Volume 9 / Issue 27 / August 2019

Case Studies on Mass Atrocities and Survival in the Modern History of Ukraine

Guest Editors: Frank Grelka and Yuri Radchenko

Online Open Access Journal of the Center for Governance and Culture in Europe University of St. Gallen URL: www.gce.unisg.ch, www.euxeinos.ch ISSN 2296-0708

Center for Governance and Last Update 31 August 2019 LANDIS & GYR Culture in Europe STIFTUNG Table of Contents

Editorial: Towards a Historiography from the Bottom up – Studies on Genocide and Survival in Modern Ukrainian History by Frank Grelka and Yuri Radchenko...... 3

No Novel for the Ordinary Men? Representation of the Rank-and-File Perpetrators of the Holodomor in Ukrainian Novels by Daria Mattingly...... 12

A Chance for Survival: Trapped within the Confrontation between Unified State Political Department and Torgsin by Mykola Horokh...... 40

„Eastern Operation” of OUN(b) and the Anti-Jewish Violence in the Summer 1941: Smotrych and Kupyn Case by Andriy Usach...... 63

Women’s Body as Battlefield: Sexual Violence during Soviet Сounterinsurgency in Western Ukraine in the 1944-1953 by Marta Havryshko...... 85

Landscape, Culture, Identity: Repatriation of Crimean Tatars and the Processes of Constructing the Place by Olena Sobolieva ...... 114

Narrating trauma: literary strategies in Ukrainian survivor literature of the second half of the 20th century by Natalia Dovhanych...... 141

Publishing Information / Contact...... 156

Euxeinos, Vol. 9, No. 27 / 2019 2 Editorial: Towards a Historiography from the Bottom up – Studies on Genocide and Survival in Modern Ukrainian History

n his book Ukraine and Russia: Representa- Lands in the 1930s-1940s.” The event was or- Itions of the Past, Serhii Plokhyi concludes that ganized in December 2016 by the Center for “Ukrainian historians have yet not managed Interethnic Relations Research in Eastern Eu- to create a master narrative of Ukraine’s Sec- rope and the Historical School of Vasyl Karaz- ond World War.”1 A centennial after the fall in Kharkiv National University and support- of the Romanov and Habsburg Empires and ed by the Ukrainian-Jewish Encounter (UJE). the creation of the first independent Ukrainian The articles provide substantial responses to

Editorial national state, this volume assembles an only the recent social paradigm of historiography recently emerging critical body of scholarship and its potential for Ukrainian Studies. The discussing the exceptional era of violence in contributors especially address the impor- Ukrainian lands2 from below, whether under tance of multiethnicity and multiconfession- totalitarian systems, in domestic spaces, or in ality for violent experiences in Ukrainian commemorative discourses. In this special is- lands: the story of violence against Ukrainian sue of Euxeinos, Ukrainian historians of the women on behalf of Soviet counterinsurgency younger generation investigate the legacies agencies in Western Ukraine in the immedi- of violence wrought by state and paramili- ate postwar years, the role of local Ukrainian tary warfare far beyond the years 1941 to 1945 villagers engaging in the killing of Jews in the and focus on the way in which the memories Podillya region during the Holocaust; the re- and experiences of violence over the 20th cen- turn of Crimean Tatars after the collapse of the tury are constructive elements to a common Soviet Union and before the Russian invasion Ukrainian identity from the Carpathians to of the peninsula in 2014; or the commemora- the Crimean Peninsula. The articles address tion of victimhood and perpetration in both the impact of genocide and survival on normal the Holodomor and Holocaust as represented residents, and question what it takes to write in Ukrainian literature. Apart from decenter- an integrated narrative of modern Ukraine’s ing towards imperial violence, transnation- imperial and nation-state history rather than ality is the second methodological challenge asking about how suppression was organized to ethnic, racial, social and class hierarchies by ruling elites, whether they were Soviet-Rus- raised in all articles. Accordingly, the contrib- sian, Soviet-Ukraine, or German. Engaging utors describe various marginalized actors to with these issues from a new perspective is explore how past experiences are commemo- fundamental to a more complete understand- rated and transformed into political action in ing of how past experiences of violence contin- Ukraine, on the one hand, while on the other ue to shape Ukraine today. hand they disclose formerly concealed topics This issue assembles selected contributions of to the public discourse about their own coun- young Ukrainian historians at a conference on try’s history. “Mass Violence and Genocides in Ukrainian Just like neighboring post-imperial societies similarly affected by Soviet and Nazi- hege 1 Serhii Plokhy, Ukraine and Russia: Represen- tations of the Past (Toronto: University of Toronto monies over East Central Europe, modern Press, 2008), 296. Ukraine is part of what historians have labeled 2 Prominently on the outstanding scale of violent agendas, however widely concealing native Shatterzones of Empires formed by nationalist collaboration in Ukrainian lands: Timothy Snyder, and socialist revolutions, civil warfare, system Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin (New York: Basic Books, 2010). changes, displacement, dekulakization, col-

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lectivization, forced migration, and the Holo- domestic and political context of the region. caust.3 Against this background, authors sug- Yuliya Yurchuk pointed to recent discours- gest patterns in the legacies of various forms es about the assessment of various roles that of state and non-state violence and address the Ukrainians and institutions in Ukraine have impact of violent experiences in the larger so- taken in history as heavily influenced by the cio-economic context for various marginalized confrontation of the Soviet postcolonial narra- Ukrainian social groups with great empathy. tive with the counter-narrative about the mem- More importantly, the collection pays tribute ory of the OUN-UPA defined by the national to residents of Ukrainian lands taking various view of martyrdom and victimhood during roles, either as victims, perpetrators, bystand- the war.4 Primarily for the sake of delegitimiz- ers, partisans, refugees, displaced persons, or ing the myth of “The Great Patriotic War” and simply as Soviet citizens from diverse ethnic, legitimating the sovereignty of the Ukrainian religious and social backgrounds. The subjects Republic, this nationalist re-evaluation of wa- include diverse perspectives – either of wom- tershed events in Ukrainian lands over the en in partisan warfare (Marta Havryshko), or past hundred years stemmed predominantly minority groups (Olena Sobolieva) in remote from post-socialist discourses since 1991. As Holocaust communities (Andriy Usach), or Wilfried Jilge pointed out when analyzing as reflected in commemorations of survivors textbooks for Ukrainian schools in the wake and perpetrators of the Holodomor and the of that history-making from above, the legacy Holocaust (Daria Mattingly & Natalia -Dovh of the nationalist military organization OUN- anych). Mykola Horokh’s essay discusses an UPA became a core element for a post-Soviet institutional history scarcely reflected in -his Ukrainian state ideology. That discourse dom- toriography exemplified by the Torgsin (the inates not only Ukraine’s foreign relations with State Society for Trading with Foreigners) Russia and Poland, but also Ukrainian politics – stores which the Soviet state spied on and until today, although it represents only one stole valuables from, and which simultaneous- side of the story.5 As predominantly western ly provided chances for survival for the same historiography has testified and Andriy- Us citizens during the Soviet man-made famine ach provides evidence for in this volume: The in Ukraine. Certainly, this collection does not regional struggle of Ukrainian nationalists propose a master narrative for Ukrainian his- under the leadership of Stepan Bandera, An- toriography, but it does reposition relevant ex- drii Mel’nyk or Roman Shukhevych was not periences at the center of Ukraine’s connectiv- 4 Yuliya Yurchuk, “Reclaiming the Past, ity with internal and international debates on Confronting the Past: OUN-UPA Memory Politics and Nation-Building in Ukraine (1991-2016)”, in Modern Ukrainian Historiography. Julie Fedor, Markku Kangaspuro, Jussi Lassila, In the process of shaping the country’s histor- Tatiana Zhurzhenko (eds.), War and Memory in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus (Cham: Palgrave ical memory in a plausible and authentic fash- Macmillan, 2017), 111-112. ion, interest in the legacies has increased enor- 5 Wilfried Jilge, “Competing Victimhoods – Post-Soviet Ukrainian Narratives on World War II”, mously in the past twenty years within the in Elazar Barkan, Elizabeth Cole, Kai Struve (eds.), Shared History – Divided Memory. Jews and Others in Soviet Occupied Poland, 1939-1941 (Leipzig, 2008), 3 Omer Bartov and Eric Weitz (eds.), Shatter- 104-105; Lina Klymenko, “Making Sense of World zone of Empires: Coexistence and Violence in the War II: How Russian and Ukrainian Textbooks German, Habsburg, Russian, and Ottoman Borderlands Foster National Identities”, EU-Russia Papers No. 7 (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2013). (January 2013).

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only directed against the Soviet occupants. For rived after the start of war to the town, but the sake of having an ethnically homogenous soon after proceeded further and left behind a Ukrainian state OUN-UPA wishes to estab- small field detachment. On that night, groups lish, nationalists and their supporters collab- of local Poles started gathering on main streets orated in the Holocaust6 and independently and killing the Jews in the town. Not all local cleansed whole regions from Poles.7 Present- Polish citizens participated in the killings but ly, scholars demonstrate great interest in the many of them did. Armed Poles roamed along issues of engagement in anti-Jewish violence the central streets of Shchuchyn, barged into in summer 1941 on the territories that were houses, plundered goods, and killed women passed over to the Soviet Union in 1939 and and children. One of the Polish eye-witness- 1940. Jeffrey Kopstein and Jason Wittenberg es accounted that he saw someone catching a wrote a book on “Intimate Violence: Anti-Jew- Jewish child by the leg and smashing his head ish Pogroms on the Eve of the Holocaust.” The against the ground. During this pogrom, Pol- authors showed how in the areas controlled ish people killed about 300 of the 2,500 Jews by the Soviet Union from 1939 to 1941 the lo- of Shchuchyn.8 Other present research shows cal Christian population (Poles, Ukrainians, that ethnic Ukrainians also participated in the Lithuanians, Latvians) participated in barbar- atrocities. After the attack of Nazi Germany ian pogroms against their Jewish neighbors. on the USSR on 22 June 1941, East Galicia and The monograph by Kopstein and Wittenberg Volhynia were hit hard by the wave of po- includes the analysis of 219 such pogroms in groms against the Jewish population. Acts of the towns and shtetls in the area of East Po- violence and pogroms also took place in some land, which makes up almost 10 % of the 2,304 towns of Central and Eastern Ukraine with settlements where Jews and non-Jews used to the arrival of Nazi troops. The pogroms en- live. According to the authors, ethnic Poles gaged the local non-Jewish population (Ukrai- were major perpetrators in about 25 % of po- nians, Poles) and German servicemen from groms, while in other cases ethnic Ukrainians the Einzatzgruppen, Wehrmacht of SS troops. prevailed. In many localities, Poles and other Such actions were usually initiated by locals, non-Jews beat, looted and killed their Jewish but the Germans would actively support and neighbors. The book describes in detail the inspire them, too. On 29 June 1941, the head events taking place in the town of Shchuchyn. of the Reich Main Security Office (RSHA) -is Before the war, about 5,400 people lived there, sued a directive for Einzatzgruppen “not to half of them Jewish. Wehrmacht soldiers ar- impede self-cleansing initiatives on the part of anti-Communist and anti-Jewish groups on 6 General information on Ukrainian col- laborationist practices during German occupation: the occupied territories.” The Germans from Frank Grelka, “Politics and military actions of eth- the SS Division Wiking played a major role in nic-Ukrainian collaboration for the “New European Order”, in Marina Cattaruzza, Dieter Langewiesche the pogroms in Western Ukraine. According (eds.), Revisionist Politics in Europe, 1938 – 1945 (Ber- to the research of a German historian Kai St- ghahn, New York & Oxford 2013), 126 – 141. Most recently: Omer Bartov, Anatomy of a Genocide: The ruve, the total number of pogrom victims in Life and Death of a Town Called Buczacz”, New York: East Galicia was approximately between sev- Simon and Schuster, 2018. 7 Jared McBride, “Peasants into Perpetrators: The OUN-UPA and the Ethnic Cleansing of 8 Jeffrey S. Kopstein, Jason Wittenberg, Volhynia, 1943–1944”, Slavic Review, vol. 75, No. 3, Intimate Violence Anti-Jewish Pogroms on the Eve of the 630-654. Holocaust (Cornell University Press, 2018), 73-78.

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en and eleven thousand local Jews. About 60% man occupation, the militia employed “for of them (4,280-6,950) were killed by soldiers of the works” 40 local Jews who were sent to the the SS Division Wiking.9 The militia (police) NKVD prison where they were most likely units created by the Organization of Ukrainian forced to drag outside dead bodies of victims Nationalists, both under the guidance of Ste- of Soviet punitive authorities. In the prison, pan Bandera and Andriy Mel’nyk, also played the Jews were shot down on the same day by an active role. For OUN fighters of both wings, the Ukrainian militia organized by OUN. On both in summer 1941 and later, militia (police) the next day, OUN members held a protest in was an entity to symbolize the “budding” fu- support of the government of Yaroslav Stets- ture Ukrainian army, and Ukrainian statehood ko.10 Similar patterns were also typical for the in general, loyal to the Hitler’s Reich. The cre- OUN(m) members in summer 1941, though ation of militia and self-governance in the ver- on a smaller scale. For instance, in the vil- sion of OUN-ers was an attempt to get at least lage of Borivka (Kitsman district, Chernivsti as much power as possible “on the grounds”, oblast’), in early July 1941, a group of Mel’nyk or at most to create an element of a monoethnic fellows armed with fire guns arrested about totalitarian Ukrainian state. The OUN tried to forty local Jews and shot them down near the commission to the ranks of police and self-gov- Bulbon lake. Some OUN members occupied ernments, as well as to the courts, their party Jewish flats and lived there until the arrival of members but there were also many non-party the Red Army in 1944.11 Research by Andriy “activists” and conformists. A large number of Usach in this issue of the journal shows how people applied to serve there. Between 1939 the processes took place on the micro-level. and 1941, they collaborated with the Bolshe- Alternatively, the contributors of this volume viks and tried to express loyalty to the new re- suggest a redefinition of the same national gime by participating in anti-Jewish pogroms. narrative by proposing to the reader an inte- It is highly probable that by engaging with grated perception by shifting the focus from the pogroms, Banderovites and Mel’nyk-fol- dynasties and states to peoples and political lowers were trying to show their dedication actors on the margins, from elites to masses, to Germans, and to find their self-assertion in while not neglecting the history of ethnic mi- the conditions of a “new order”. One of the an- norities and groups regarded as not central to ti-Jewish actions of OUN(b) took place in the the nation-building process so far. The con- town of Vyshnivets (Zbarazh district, Terno- tributions are clearly part of a promising ap- pil oblast’). With arrival of the Germans, the proach towards a “decentered” history, which members of the so called “marching groups” Olga Andriewsky has brilliantly discussed of OUN also came to the town. They were while exploring the latest scholarship on the joined by local “activists.” They jointly orga- Holodomor from below in Ukrainian histo- nized the militia. On the second day of Ger- riography. Far beyond the colonial agency of Russian, Polish, German or Soviet suppres- 9 Kai Struve, Deutsche Herrschaft, ukraini- scher Nationalismus, antijüdische Gewalt. Der Sommer sions, studies in this volume give a voice to 1941 in der Westukraine (Berlin, Boston, 2015); The lecture by Dr. Kai Struve of Martin Luther Universi- 10 United States Holocaust Memorial ty, Halle-Wittenberg Germany „German Rule, Uk- Museum (USHMM), RG – 31.018M, Reel 27. rainian Nationalism, anti-Jewish Violence. Summer 11 Archives of Chernivtsi Oblast’ Board of 1941 in Western Ukraine“, https://www.youtube. the Security Service of Ukraine, spr.10073, ark. 81- com/watch?v=iJ6F1guZfEM 83, 193-95.

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millions of ordinary residents and shed light sions from official Chechen authorities. Thus, on larger cultural consequences of collectiviza- in 2014, the head of Assembly of the Peoples tion, the Ukrainian Famine, mass deportations of Caucasus, Ruslan Kutayev, was arrest- and the Holocaust for the ordinary people in ed and sentenced to four years of imprison- Ukrainian lands. ment. This occurred when he spoke at the It is still problematic to exploit the history of conference “Deportation of Chechen People. tragic events researched by authors of this What Was It and Could It Be Forgotten?” on journal. They include, among others, the issues 18 February 2014, and criticized the ban for related to Stalinist deportations of nations in mourning actions in Chechnya on 23 Feb- the Soviet Union in 1944. It is not infrequently ruary. The international human rights orga- that the events are used to conduct political re- nization Human Rights Watch pointed to the pressions in the post-Soviet area. The extreme link between criminal persecution of Kutayev manifestation of such phenomenon can be and his speech commemorating the victims of vividly seen in one of the republics in North deportation.13 Caucasus, Chechnya. As we know, the Nakh Stories of deportation of Crimean Tatars and peoples – Chechens and Ingush – were deport- the preceding events are also often a subject ed to Kazakhstan and Central Asia during the of exploitation from varied perspectives. Rus- so called operation “Lentil” (Chechevitsa) that sian chauvinists would often resort to the fact took place from 23 February to 9 March 1944. that some Crimean Tatars, the same as other The deported persons were able to return to Soviet nations under occupation, did collab- their historical homeland only in 1957. When orate with the Nazis, thus justifying the 1944 in 1991 Chechnya under the guidance of Dz- deportations. However, after Russia’s ille- hokhar Dudayev aimed to exit the Russian le- gal annexation and occupation of Crimea in gal sphere, 23 February 1994 was proclaimed March, 2014, Vladimir Putin signed the decree the Day of National Revival several months “On Activities to Rehabilitate Armenian, Bul- before the start of the First Russian-Chech- garian, Greek, Crimean-Tatar, and German en War.12 Nevertheless, February 23 has been People and State Support for their Revival and subsequently commemorated in Chechn- Development.” The document stated that the ya and among Chechen diaspora as a day objective of Russian occupation authorities of mourning. In 2010, during the rule of the was “to facilitate the creation and develop- pro-Russian politician Ramzan Kadyrov, the ment of national cultural autonomies, other date first was granted an official status as the civic associations and organizations” of the Day of Memory and Mourning. Howev- repressed people of Crimea.14 The goal of the er, in 2011, the memorial date was shifted to Putin’s decree was to attempt to legitimize oc- 10 May, the date of death of a former mufti cupation, on the one hand, while on the oth- and a pro-Russian President of the Republic, er hand it was supposed to receive favorable Ramzan’s father Akhmad Kadyrov. The activ- attitudes from Crimean Tatars. However, the ists who tried to commemorate February 23 as a day of mourning afterwards faced repres- 13 How Kadyrov made a feast out of mourn- ing on February 23, http://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/ articles/298148/ 12 Dzhokhar Dudayev, February, 23 - the Day 14 Decree of the President of the Russian Fed- of National Revival of Chechen People, https://www. eration, 21.04.2014, № 268, http://kremlin.ru/acts/ youtube.com/watch?v=WIi6StJY3ps&t=502s bank/38356

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formalities did not impede repressions against film directed by Ahtem Seitablayev “Haytar- Crimean Tatars on the peninsula, not to men- ma” that came out in 2013. The film is based tion the fact that the term “rehabilitation” was on a true story and recounts the Stalinist de- not politically correct with respect to the de- portation of Crimean Tatars in May 1944. The ported nations.15 It must also be mentioned author showed that tragic time in the context that until 2014, the repatriation of Crimean of life experience of a well-known pilot Am- Tatars in Ukraine had yet to be duly finalized. et-khan Sultan. The film shows how after ex- Even after the Russian occupation of Crimea, pulsion of the Nazi occupants from Crimea, Ukrainian officials hardly do anything (and if Amet-khan (played by Ahtem Seitablayev) so often unsuccessfully and ambiguously) to and his brothers in arms received a permit support Crimean Tatars in Crimea and in con- from the military commanders to visit their tinental Ukraine. Thus, on November 12, 2015, family in Alupka. The operation of NKVD of a resolution “On Acknowledging the Geno- forced deportation of Crimean Tatars coinci- cide of the Crimean Tatar Nation” was passed dentally took place there during the pilot’s stay by the Supreme Council of Ukraine. Pursuant in the city. According to the plot, the Sultan to the resolution, the Ukrainian parliament ac- failed to save his family from deportation. In knowledged the “deportation of Crimean Ta- Haytarma, Crimean Tatars are represented ex- tars from Crimea in 1944 to be the genocide of clusively as exemplary “Soviet patriots,” and the Crimean Tatar people.” The document also relations with other people living in Crimea instituted in Ukraine the day of “May 18 as the are shown in an idealistic manner.18 Moreover, Day of Memory of Victims of the Genocide of during this contemporary period of politiciza- Crimean Tatar People.”16 tion of history, Crimean Tatar intelligentsia Another problem arising in this respect con- tend to generate myths more frequently. An- cerns the kind of narrative generated by other indicative example in this respect is the Crimean Tatars about themselves. It is indic- making of the film “Other People’s Prayer” ative that since the collapse of Soviet regime by the above mentioned film director Ahtem and creation of independent Ukraine, the Saitablayev. The film was presumably based representatives of intelligentsia of this nation on a true story. The film director briefly tells have not made any serious efforts to critical- the story of the film in one of his interviews: ly assess the past of their people, rather have taken an idealizing and victimizing position. During the World War II, a Crimean Tatar lady There is no study by Crimean Tatar historians Saide Arifova in Bakhchisaray saved from death who would be willing to write about such a about 90 children, most of them Jewish. The story sensitive issue as Crimean Tatar collaboration- is unique because she saved them twice. Saide pre- ism. At the same time, Russian and pro-Rus- sented the children as Crimean Tatars making up sian historians produce biased opinions on the a name for each of them, and making up a story for issue.17 In this respect, there is an illustrative every one of them about where their parents were

15 Return of Crimean Tatars: Gains and Losses, chikov. Bor’ba protiv okuoantov I kolaboracionistov, http://www.bbc.com/russian/features-39969106 https://www.sovrhistory.ru/events/special/599aa 16 Resolution of the Supreme Council of Ukraine 22640237666bc3ae172 “On Acknowledging the Genocide of Crimean Tatar Peo- 18 Haytarma. Directed by Akhtem Seitablaiev. ple”, http://zakon2.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/792-19 Kyiv: ATR TV Channel, 2013 17 Oleg Romanko, Krym pod piatoy zahvat- https://www.youtube.co/watch?v=Bh8QkcOB7QE

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from, where they came from, and which school they while there was a lack of any studies of Mus- went to. It was not very difficult to teach the boys lim(Turkic)-Jewish relations on the territory of to speak the Crimean Tatar language as they came Ukraine, just as there were no studies on the from the Kerch orphanage, and they heard the lan- involvement of Ukrainian Muslims in the Ho- guage in the everyday life. When after a month the locaust.21 It presents a rather strong contrast to Gestapo found out (they had been informed about the situation in the historiography of Kazan them) that they had been keeping so many Jewish Tatars where the same topic of collaboration- children, they subjected them to a strict exam. They ism with the Nazi during the World War II, for asked their names and made them say a prayer the instance, of the Turkic Muslim peoples of the woman had taught them before. At the same time, Urals has been researched much more thor- Saide was tortured but she did not confess the chil- oughly.22 dren were Jewish. After two weeks, a German of- However, it will depend on political decision ficer released the lady as he could not believe that making in the first place, whether Ukraine es- Saide would defend children who were absolutely tablishes itself as a part of East Central Europe not hers. When deportations of Crimean Tatars or stays part of an imperial Euro-Asian re- started on 18 May 1944 and the NKVD officers naissance perspective on history, as the conse- loaded everyone in the truck, she managed to show quences of present military campaigns by the the documents of the children to the officers and Kremlin in the Crimea and in Eastern Ukraine prove they were not Crimean Tatars but Jewish, on the country’s future are hard to predict. and thus not entitled for deportation. This way, Also, it seems obvious that ongoing Rus- Saide saved them for the second time.19 sian occupation policies on these territories will develop to another element of shaping The problem is that even though Yad Vashem Ukraine’s statehood from violent experiences initiated the case to assign to Arifova the title in the past. In this volume, based on archival of the Righteous of the World, they failed to documentation and collected eye-witness ac- obtain any testimony from the children she counts, a new generation of scholars assesses presumably saved. That is why the entire sto- the impact of such experiences on our under- ry looks like a falsification. It is also indicative standing of Ukrainian history. that real Crimean Tatars who were honored As mentioned before, several essays of this is- with the title of the Righteous of the World re- sue of the journal are devoted to issues of the main practically unknown. Thus, for instance, history of the Holodomor. Unfortunately, the there is not even an entry in Wikipedia about studies of this tragedy, with victims of differ- the Crimean Tatar family of the Kurtiyevs ent nationalities on the territory of Ukrainian (Adzhykadyr Kurtiyev, Ayshe Kurtiyeva, Dz- hafer Kurtiyev) who used to live in Ayman- http://db.yadvashem.org/righteous/family. html?language=ru&itemId=4035674 Kuyu, not far from Kerch, who saved a Jewish 21 Kiril Feferman, Sovetskie musul’mane v woman Nina Bakshi and her two daughters gody voiny I Holokost v SSSR, https://www.youtube. 20 com/watch?v=z3A3ZnrbHFQ Alla and Feodosiya. All of this happened 22 Iskander Giliazov, “Kolaboratsionizm ti- urko-musulmanskich narodov SSSR v gody Vtoroy 19 Ahtem Seitablayev, I have a dream to create mirovoy voiny – forma proyavlenia natsionaliz- the future elite of Crimea, https://www.youtube.com/ ma?”. Ab Imperio, 2000, № 1: 107-129; Iskander Gil- watch?v=z3A3ZnrbHFQ iazov, Legion “Idel’-Ural, (Moskva, 2009); Iskander 20 The Kurtiyevs family (Adzhykadyr Kurti- Giliazov, “Germania I musulmane Rossii v dvuch yev, Ayshe Kurtiyeva, Dzhafer Kurtiyev), mirovych voinach”, Ab Imperio, 2001, № 4: 195-208.

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SSR amounting to 3 to 3.5 million people, in area faced organized mass violence on an Ukraine and in the Ukrainian migrant com- unprecedented scale. Its victims were most- munity most often are based on methodology ly Jews, Belarussians, Ukrainians, Russians, from the early 1990s. From the 1990s until to- and people from the Baltic nations.24 Snyder’s day, Ukrainian politicians have been exploit- book received a large number of reviews and ing the tragic events. The events of the Great was translated into many languages. The re- Famine became an important tool both for views were mostly positive. Criticism of Sny- Ukrainian domestic policy and foreign poli- der’s studies came mostly from leftist and cy. Since the 1990s, Ukrainian political figures extreme left-wing historians. For instance, have been trying to have parliaments of dem- Daniel Lazare wrote that Snyder followed the ocratic states acknowledge the Holodomor as ideas of Ernst Nolte.25 Dovid Katz, a histori- a genocide.23 All of it is happening in a setting an of Lithuanian Jewry who is also research in which any attempts to arrange for a regular director of the Vilnius Yiddish Institute and a publication of the Holodomor Studies journal cofounder of the Litvak Studies Institute, crit- have failed. icized Snyder for comparing Hitler’s and Sta- It is still debatable whether it makes any sense lin’s regimes, thus rejecting the unique nature to create a synthetic narrative of history of the of the Holocaust: 1930-1940s that would include an analysis of the history of crimes of Stalinism (Holodomor, Snyder flirts with the very wrong moral - equiva repressions of 1936-1938, deportations, Sovi- lence between Hitler and Stalin. None of these in- etization of the lands connected to the USSR cidents besides the Holocaust involved the willful in 1939-1940) and the Nazi crimes (Holocaust, massacre of a whole race. There is something very Porajmos, occupation policy, extermination of different going on, beyond politics, when people try Soviet prisoners of war with famine and dis- to murder all the babies of a race.26 ease in 1941-1942). One of the well-known at- tempts to create such narrative was made by Other reviewers, such as Per Rudling, wrote a US historian Timothy Snyder in his book that even though “Snyder does mention the “Bloodlands”, first published in 2010 -in En LAF’s (Front of Lithuanian Activists – Yu. glish. According to Snyder’s concept, Nazi and R.) Kazys Škirpa, and touches briefly upon Soviet regimes killed about 14 million people the OUN, “the contextualization of national- in Eastern and Central Europe in the middle of ist involvement in the mass murder of Jew- the 20th century. Snyder’s Bloodlands, the lands ish neighbors, i.e. in the Holocaust itself is of death of many victims, cover the area from missing.”27 Without giving much attention to

central Poland to western Russia: Ukraine, 24 Snyder, Bloodlands, (New York: Basic Belarus, and the Baltic states. During the con- Books, 2010). 25 Daniel Lazare, Timothy Snyder’s Lies, http://www. solidation of national-socialism and Stalinism jacobinmag.com/2014/09/timothy-snyders-lies/ (1933-1938), during the joint German-Soviet 26 Gal Beckerman, Exploring the “Bloodlands.” A controversial new history traces the rise of a horri- occupation of Poland (1939-1941), and later ble idea: the mass killing of civilians, http://archive. during the Nazi-Soviet War (1941-1945), this boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2011/03/13/ exploring_the_bloodlands/?page=full 27 Per Rudling, Can Timothy Snyder’s 23 Georgiy Kas’ianov, Danse macabre: golod “Bloodlands” be Appropriated by East European 1932–1933 rokiv u politytsi, masoviy svidomosti ta is- Nationalists?, DefendingHistory.com, 24 V 2011, torigrafiyi(1980- ti — pochatok 2000-h) (Kyiv, 2010). http://defendinghistory.com/?p=16684

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either positive or negative aspects of the Sny- European and Jewish History in the 19th der’s Bloodlands, several things must be kept in and 20th century. At the Viadrina Center for mind. Historians, who study a certain period Interdisciplinary Polish Studies he is currently of time without any knowledge of the preced- writing a monograph about the significance of ing epoch, find it difficult to understand what public labor deployment in the Lublin district happened afterwards and why. For instance, for the Holocaust. Together with Stephan it is not possible to study a phenomenon such Rindlisbacher, Frank Grelka also works on as collaborationism in the Holocaust without a edition examining the role of Polish and any ideas about Soviet society in the 1930s. For German Village Boards in Soviet Ukraine example, it would be difficult to understand during the New Economic Policy (NEP). the motivation of local executioners (Ukraini- ans, Russians, Poles, local Germans) without Yuri Radchenko is the Director of the Center any knowledge of repressions of the second for Interethnic Relations Research in Eastern half of the 1930s in the Soviet Union until 1939, Europe (Kharkiv, Ukraine) and Associate or without studying the “accelerated” Soviet- Professor at the Institute of Oriental Studies ization of the occupied Baltic states or West- and International Relations “Kharkiv ern Ukraine.28 Within one body of research, Collegium”. He received his Ph.D. in history it is possible to write about several tragedies from the V. Karazin Kharkiv National without relativization and not negate the pe- University with the dissertation on the culiarity and uniqueness of each of them. The Nazi Genocide of the Ukrainian Jews in the objective of this issue is an attempt to do so. Military-Administered Area. Yuri was a fellow of a number of postdoctoral programs in the United States, Israel, and Europe. Yuri has recently finished his monograph “Hilfspolizei, Self-government and the Holocaust in About the guest editors Ukrainian-Russian- Belorussian Borderland: Frank Grelka is a Research Fellow at European Motivation, Identity, Collective Portrait and University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder). Memory”(forthcoming). Currently, he is He received his Ph.D. in history from the working on the project “Andriy Melnyk: the Ruhr-University Bochum in 2005 with his OUN Leader’s Life History and the Memory comparative dissertation on the Ukrainian of Him and His Movement”. His academic National Movement during World War I interests include the history of the Holocaust, and II. His main research fields are East Ukrainian-Jewish relations in 1920-01940th, collaboration with Nazis in Eastern Europe 28 See for instance: Yuri Radchenko, and history of right radical movements in “Accomplices to Extermination: Municipal Government and the Holocaust in Kharkiv (1941- Europe in 1920s-1940s. 1942)”, Holocaust and Genocide Studies 27, №3 (Winter 2013): 443-463; Yuri Radchenko, “We fired all cartridges at them”: Ukrainische Hilfspolizei and the Holocaust on the territory of the Generalbezirk Kharkiv, 1941-1943”, Yad Vashem Studies, 2013, 41(1): 63-98.; Yuri Radchenko, “The Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (Mel’nyk Faction) and the Holocaust: The Case of Ivan Iuriiv”, Holocaust and Genocide Studies 31, no. 2 (2017) : 215–239.

Euxeinos, Vol. 9, No. 27 / 2019 11 No Novel for Ordinary Men? Representation of the Rank-and-File Perpetrators of the Holodomor in Ukrainian Novels

by Daria Mattingly

Abstract The article focuses on cultural representations of the rank-and-file perpetrators of the 1932-1933 famine in Ukraine, known as the Holodomor. While it is generally accepted that most perpetrators of mass violence are ordinary people with rather banal motives, the rank-and-file perpetrators of the Holodomor remain on the margins of cultural memory in Ukraine. When they become the focus of artistic expression, perpetrators are often framed according to several distinct modalities based on the vesting of agency. In samvydav novels this agency dispersed: some perpetrators are indoctrinated, some settle scores, many simply follow orders, whereas authors in post-Soviet Ukraine and in the diaspora tend to displace agency by locating it with the savage, ethnically different Other or locals influenced by the Other. In the Soviet novels, by contrast, the agency is embraced. The article traces and analyses these modalities following a sequential chronological trajectory.

Keywords: Holodomor, rank-and-file perpetrators, representation, cultural memory, the Other, agency

he all-Soviet famine of the early 1930s descriptions of the starvation, estimations Tclaimed millions lives in several regions of of the demographic losses, debates on the the USSR. A number of legislative provisions intentions of the party leadership and whether applied specifically to Ukraine between late or not the famine constitutes a genocide. 1932 and early 1933 resulted in four million Hundreds of thousands of men and women deaths in the Ukrainian republic alone.1 who facilitated the Holodomor on the ground The enforcement of these policies – the – village and district officials, various party confiscation of all foodstuffs and valuables, plenipotentiaries and local activists whose sealing the borders of Ukraine and confining direct or indirect actions led to the deaths – the peasants to their villages, the refusal of have so far attracted little scholarly attention2 state relief and increased grain requisitions 2 James Mace, “Komitety Nezamozhnykh –prompted a critical body of scholars to Selyan and the Structure of Soviet Rule in the refer to the famine of that period in Ukraine Ukrainian Countryside, 1920-1933,” Soviet Studies, no. 4 (October, 1983): 487-503; Stepan Drovozyuk, as the Holodomor, which means deliberate “Povedinka silskykh aktyvistiv pid chas sutsilnoii death by hunger in Ukrainian. The scholarship kolektyvizatsii ta Holodomoru ukrainskoho narodu (1932-1933 rr),” Istoriia Ukrainy. Malovidomi imena, on the Holodomor has been dominated by podii, fakty, vol. 34 (2007): 67-79; Olena Lysenko, “Typolohiia povedinky silskykh aktyvistiv u konteksti zdiysnennia sutsilnoii kolektyvizatsii 1 Estimations of the number of victims vary; silskoho hospodarstva v Ukraiini (pochatok 1930- most demographers accept a number closer to 4 kh rr),” Istoriia Ukraiiny. Malovidomi imena, podii, million. See: Jacques Vallin, France Meslé, Sergei fakty, vol. 36 (2010): 189-203; Partiyno-radianske Adamets, and Serhii Pyrozhkov “Kryza 1930 rr.,” kerivnytstvo Ukraiinskoii SSR pid chas Holodomoru in France Meslé and Jacques Vallin eds., Smertnist 1932–1933: Vozhdi. Pratsivnyky. Actyvisty. Zbirnyk ta prychyny smerti v Ukraiini u XX stolitti (Kyiv: dokumentiv ta materialiv, ed. Valeriy Vasyliev, Stylos, 2008), 37-65; Omelian Rudnytskyi, Nataliia Nickolas Werth, Serhii Kokin (Kyiv: Instytut istorii Levchuk, Oleh Wolowyna, and Pavlo Shevchuk, Ukraiiny, 2013); Valeriy Vasylyev and Lynne Viola, “Famine losses in Ukraine in 1932 to1933 within Kolektyvizatsiia i selianskyi opir na Ukraiini (lystopad the context of the Soviet Union,” in Declan Curran, 1929 - mart 1930) (Vinnytsia: Logos, 1997); Andriy Lubomyr Luciuk, and Andrew Newby (eds.), Pashchenko, Provedennia sutsilnoii kolektyvizatsii Famines in European Economic History: The Last Great ta organizatsiino-hospodarske zmitsnennia kolhospiv European Famines Reconsidered (London, 2015). (1929-1937) (Dnipropetrovsk, 1961), 28.

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though they loom large in cultural memory. whether Ukrainian novels on the famine Considering the long history of Ukrainian reflect the participation of various perpetrator literature serving both as a public forum and groups or instead offer a reductive reading of a repository of cultural memory,3 Ukrainian the perpetrators. To answer this question in novels are constitutive in constructing the a comparative frame, Smeuler’s overarching image of the perpetrators. typology of perpetrators of mass violence While it is generally accepted that most is employed.6 This typology includes seven perpetrators of mass violence are ordinary groups of perpetrators based on their people with rather banal motives,4 the rank- motivation: trained perpetrators like police and-file perpetrators of the Holodomor or military, fanatics or ideological actors, remain the marginal element of the village careerists, profiteers, sadists, conformists and community or the Other in the cultural compromised perpetrators (who are forced to memory in Ukraine. When they become the participate). focus of artistic expression, perpetrators are The novels chosen for analysis are the ones that often framed according to several distinct reached the mass reader in Ukraine and thus modalities based on the vesting of agency. became part of cultural memory. They include Representation of the perpetrators in Soviet the Soviet novels that were distributed to the prose, for instance, corresponds with the public libraries from the 1930s onwards; the Soviet narrative of collectivization, in which novels written in diaspora that were included agency is vested in characters who embrace in school curricula after 1991 and used as participation. In samvydav novels, by contrast, film scripts;7 post-Soviet works that received this agency dispersed: some perpetrators are literary acclaim; and works recommended indoctrinated, some settle scores, many simply for commemoration events by the Institute of follow orders. Authors in post-Soviet Ukraine National Memory of Ukraine.8 The novels are and in the diaspora, by contrast, tend to split into four groups, based chronologically displace agency by locating it with the savage, on the political context in which they were ethnically different Other or locals influenced produced: the first group is compiled of by the Other. The title of this article, which is a rewording for old men” laments the young neglecting the of the opening line to William Butler Yeats’ wisdom of the old, which could also relate to the young perpetrators of the famine defying the older poem Sailing to Byzantium,5 is the question generation that was reluctant to support Soviet policies in the village. 3 Cultural memory is understood as 6 Alette Smeulers, “Perpetrators of a communicative memory of a fateful event international crimes: towards a typology,” in maintained through cultural formation like Supranational criminology: towards a criminology of texts, rites, monuments, museums, recitations, international crimes, ed. Alette Smeulers and Roelof observances, and education. See Jan Assmann and Haveman (Antwerpen: Intersentia, 2008), 233-265. John Czaplicka, “Collective Memory and Cultural 7 Although Vasyl Barka’s novel The Yellow Identity,” New German Critique 65 (1995): 129. Prince – a visceral account of the Holodomor centred 4 Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem – a on the fictional Katrannyk family – appeared Report on the Banality of Evil (New York: Penguin in samizdat as early as 1962, it was published in Books, 1964); Raul Hilberg, Perpetrators, Victims, Ukraine only in 1991. Bystanders – the Jewish Catastrophe (New York: 8 Hanna Baikienich and Olena Okhrimchuk Harper Perennial, 1992); Christopher R. Browning, (eds.), Zbirka metodychnykh rekomendatsiy do Ordinary Men - Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the vidznachennia pamyatnykh dat u zahalnoosvitnikh Final Solution in Poland (New York: Aaron Asher navchalnykh zakladakh, (Dnirpo: Lira, 2017), 90-108. Books, 1992). http://www.memory.gov.ua/sites/default/files/ 5 The original line “That is no country zbirka_metodichnih_rekomendaciy.pdf

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Soviet novels, the second group – novels by the memoirs of the Holodomor perpetrators.12 Soviet dissidents, the third group – novels When Kostryha repeatedly refuses to submit written in the diaspora, the fourth group – grain on requests from “a man from the novels composed in post-Soviet Ukraine. This district,” “the commission” and “the village exploratory overview therefore starts with council,” they take his potatoes and confiscate Soviet novels and then moves to works that his property, thus effectively contributing to have become available to the general public the starvation of his children. The perpetrators in Ukraine after 50 years of silence about the are nameless but omnipresent: “All teachers famine. It includes dissident prose that was in the district were organised, together with first disseminated via samvydav or samizdat, pupils, to ‘pull peasants out of the debt to the Ukrainian prose in diaspora and post-Soviet state’.”13 These representatives of state ask novels. Kostryha’s son where his father has hidden grain. Eventually the officials find the grain Soviet Novels and take his children away:

While Ukrainian Soviet literature of the You can do what you like, Matvii, but [you] cannot early 1930s was subjected to censorship and torture the children. We are taking your boys to was supposed “to show the most important, a pioneer camp. They will be better off there, and positive side of collectivization; to illuminate their future will be certain.14 the key role of village activists and Party cells in the socialistic transformation of the Likewise, Ivan Kyrylenko, the author of a village,”9 it nevertheless offers an elaborate novel about collectivization titled Avanposty picture of collectivization in Ukraine and even (The Outposts, 1933), had knowledge of the occasional mention of the famine. Indeed, the perpetrators on the ground through many Soviet writers were, if not perpetrators his position as a personal secretary of the themselves, then at least witnesses of the famine Chairman of the TsVK of Soviet Ukraine, offering first-hand accounts of the starvation Hryhorii Petrovs’kyi. During the Holodomor, in the village. Arkadii Liubchenko, the author Petrovs’kyi received thousands of letters of the first Soviet short novel about the famine, from the countryside, some of which were titled Kostryha (1933),10 based his narrative from the perpetrators commenting on their on his visits to the countryside at the time.11 colleagues. The author of one letter notes The protagonist Matvii Kostryha is a “middle how collective farm management and peasant” who hides grain from officials and members of the RPK profit from violence in watches his family starve. Such presentations the village: of peasants hiding grain can also be found in Binge drinking, threats... even the cases of physical 9 Anatolii Dimarov, Prozhyty i rozpovisty: violence… The dekulakized are forced to live in the povist’ pro simdesiat lit. Part III (Kyiv: Dnipro, 1998), 181. dugouts. They are sentenced to starvation. The 10 Kostryha is a surname of a character. The story was published in Communist on January 11, 12 Kopelev, I sotvoril sebe kumira, 250. 1933. 13 Arkadii Liubchebko, ”Kostryha,” in Zbirka 11 Liubchenko describes one of his visits in Ukraiins’kykh novel (New York: Naukove Tovarystvo April 1933 in the short novel Ioho taiemnytsia (His im. Shevchenka v Amerytsi, 1955), 151. Secret) in 1966. 14 Liubchebko, ”Kostryha,” 154.

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officials say: we do what we want. Such facts are he avoids making any decisions and uses his not exceptional but common.15 position to pursue his love interests. Only when the woman refuses Dovbnia does he As secretary, Kyrylenko was doubtlessly try to use the law on protection of socialistic aware of this correspondence, which offered property to punish her for “pilfering” in 1932 extensive details on the mechanism of the – which implies she was starving at the time. Holodomor and the various types of its In other words, the perpetrators in the novel perpetrators. are, based on Smeulers’s typology, either The protagonists in Avanposty are officials fanatics or profiteers. involved in grain procurement: a village Female perpetrators in Avanposty are Komsomol leader Pavlo Motora; a worker ideological perpetrators too. The two women from Kharkiv and TsK plenipotentiary among the activists – a Komsomol Varvara Marko Obushnyi; and the head of the village Nezhurbida and a widow Khrystia – are council Dovbnia, among others. It is not a first later joined by another widow Maria. These assignment for Obushnyi, who has “beautiful women complain to Obushnyi that Dovbnia is intentions to transform the village.”16 not involving other women in the campaigns. Together with Motora he is determined to In fact, most women in the village, according find and liquidate class enemies and everyone to Kyrylenko, remain ’backward’ and openly sympathetic to them. Obushnyi promises hostile to the female activists. The peasant village activists to “sizzle” the enemies in women spread rumours about Varvara being order to meet procurement targets. The name promiscuous and nearly lynch Khrystia of the novel is telling: French avant poste and Maria. The general condemnation means a guarded beacon established during of Varvara is exacerbated by her defying the offensive. Similarly the novel presents gender expectations: together with Motora, perpetrators in militaristic terms, as soldiers she “fights the neighbourhood, dosvitky,18 in a hostile environment who follow orders, perennial peasant passivity…”19 and does not demonstrate vigilance, bravery and firm sleep at night in hope to catch other peasants beliefs. They are contrasted with characters milling grain. In the end Khrystia is promoted who desert, profit or question the orders. to become a member of the collective farm One of these characters is Dovbnia who is board, Varvara is engaged to Motora, and reluctant to “reveal enemies”17 in the collective other women in the village reconcile with farm, refuses to punish peasants for stealing them. the grain and calls the grain procurement Kyrylenko’s fanatic perpetrators, however, plan unrealistic. As officious as Dovbnia is, vary in the degree of indoctrination. An episode in Avanposty that reads like a document is a 15 From the letter from the students of speech by the secretary of Central Committee Military Airforce Academy of RSChA to Hryhorii Petrovs’kyi, on their participation in Novopskovs’k district, Luhans’k oblast’. TsDAHOU, f. 1, op. 7, spr. 145, Ark. 62-67. 18 Traditional meetings of unmarried young 16 Ivan Kyrylenko, ’Avanposty,’ Molodniak: men and women during which they danced, sang Molodyi Bil’shovyk, no. 4-5 (1933): 9. and courted. These meetings disappeared during 17 See P. Kapelgorods’kyi collection of stories collectivization, and were replaced by gatherings Znyshchyty iak klas (To Destroy as a Class). The task in the village clubs. of revealing was delegated to the local officials, 19 Ivan Kyrylenko, ‘Avanposty,’ Molodniak: activists and collective farmers. Molodyi Bil’shovyk, no 3 (1933): 6.

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at the orientation for Party plenipotentiaries secretary of the RPK Havrysh explains the lack like Obushnyi: “Three hundred Bolsheviks of local support of the officials to Obushnyi by heard the words and dressed them in stating that many peasants did not support familiar pictures of class struggle in the Soviet rule when it was established: “At that village.”20 Three hundred Bolsheviks, like time every fifth [person] here was fighting for three hundred Spartans, are outnumbered in Petliura or in gangs. We can count on few.”24 their fight in the countryside. Most of them, Coincidentally, the comments of this fictional like Obushnyi, worked in the factories or character echo the words of local perpetrators mines where their lives evoke those in Emile in Kopelev’s memoir. In late 1932 Kopelev Zola’s Germinal (1885) – i.e. characterised by was sent to procure grain in the village of a struggle for a better future. The wording of Petrivtsi (the name resembles that of Petrivka the official speech is strikingly similar to the in Avanposty) in the Poltava oblast’. A local speech of one republican leader recalled by DPU plenipotentiary explained the lack of Victor Kravchenko, who was also sent to the local support to Kopelev in similar terms: countryside in 1932.21 He remembers feeling inspired by militaristic slogans and anxious to There are counter-revolutionary elements in all meet expectations, although he had no “familiar villages here. In Petrivtsi there are about 20 of pictures of class struggle” and lacked specific those who took arms against us and spilt our blood. instructions. According to Kravchenko, such The district is full of those who fought for Petliura, ideological conditioning was enough to make Makhno, Marusia… There were as many gangs in many workers say that the starving peasants Civil War here as there are fleas on a dog.25 were somehow responsible for the famine and to make them enforce brutal policies on the In Avanposty, Obushnyi remains a cultural ground. While Khlevniuk, one of the leading Other for many peasants given his standing as historians of Stalinism, posits that this line of a plenipotentiary from the city, so his enemies thinking was shared by many Soviet officials spread rumours about him seducing Motora’s and imposed on them from above,22 General girlfriend Varvara: “All those city folks are Petro Hryhorenko, himself a participant of fooling us simpletons. They come over, spoil those events, argues that these words were our girls, take our bread and are off …”26 what many perpetrators wanted to believe as it These initially hostile activists eventually made their life safer.23 Indeed, such testimonies come to support Obushnyi. They correspond present perpetrators in a positive light but do to another perpetrator type: conformists. They not necessarily reflect their actual motivation. accept the orders from the authorities but do not A close reading of Avanposty also reveals necessarily approve of them. Upon his arrival, a number of other perpetrator types. The Obushnyi summons Red Army veterans, all members of the village council and collective 20 Ivan Kyrylenko, Avanposty (Kharkiv: farm board, poor peasants (members of KNS), Khudozhnia literatura, 1935), 11. 21 Victor Kravchenko, I Chose Freedom. and shock collective farmers – approximately 22 Oleg Khlevniuk and Marta D. Olynyk, 25 people. He notes to himself that only a few ’Com-ments on the Short-Term Consequences of the Holodomor,’ Harvard Ukrainian Studies 30, no. 1/4 (2008): 150. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23611470. 24 Kyrylenko, Avanposty, 42. 23 Petro Hryhorenko, Spohady (Detroit: 25 Kopelev, I sotvoril sebe kumira, 248. Ukraiinski visti, 1984), 109. 26 Kyrylenko, Avanposty, 18.

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of the assembled genuinely embrace the idea (History of Happiness, 1934) Ivan Le portrays of class struggle, whereas the vast majority are a pioneer Phonia who denounces his father indifferent.27 One of these activists regards his for hiding grain and has a mental breakdown. participation in house searches – during which In the same novel a character named Mykyta he receives verbal abuse from women and Korovainii participates in the dekulakization hears repeated denials of hiding grain from of his own parents in order to become a men – as an unpleasant job. Having concluded chairman of the collective farm. In Voseny (In that the ideological education of prospective Autumn, 1933) by Mykola Dukyn, Komsomol activists would be futile, Obushnyi threatens Kyrylo reminds his mother that he might them with repression. He reminds them that shoot her if she steals even a handful of grain the Party will punish those who tolerate the from the collective farm again. He guards the enemies even “after the battle is over.” Lastly, barn and, at one point, shoots a peasant in the to ensure control over the activists, Obushnyi back. splits the peasants into small search brigades In a similar vein, Hryhorii Epik portrays with one trusted comrade in each. He instructs several groups of perpetrators in his novel them to “shake the grain out” only when told Persha Vesna (The First Spring, 1933). Epik to and to “press harder” on the individual names over thirty people involved in grain peasants rather than on the collective procurement and collectivization in the village farmers.28 Each search brigade is given a target of Bahva where the head of the village council and a part of the village in which to work and Khymochka struggles to establish a collective is subsequently assessed on its performance. farm. Though he is backed by district officials After a few weeks, the trusted comrades and local poor peasants, most farmers oppose from each brigade merge into one brigade him. In such a way, Epik argues, the peasants in which all members are either relatives or want to minimize their losses. Even when close friends. Such a brigade, according to the local delegate Pola reassures Komsomol activists, will organise “a true devastation.”29 plenipotentiary Lohvyn that the poor peasants They abide by the rule, “No hesitation at the will follow “where you take us,”31 he backs a front. Get an order – follow it!”30 local wealthy farmer Lytka who holds real Kyrylenko also presents the reader with power in the village at the time. Then Lohvyn compromised perpetrators: young ambitious engages local youth in grain procurement men and women in the Komsomol who by promising them Komsomol membership follow Communists. They destroy the if they prove themselves in finding grain. icons worshipped by their mothers. More They respond with enthusiasm: “We are not innocuously, they play the accordion, an new at this! Who collected all the bread but instrument that replaced the traditional us?,” implying that they are already initiated kobza or fiddle during collectivization. This the enforcement of violent policies.32 The generational divide is addressed by other antagonist Lytka comments that the support writers of the early 1930s: in Istoriia radosti of these locals is crucial for grain procurement:

27 Kyrylenko, Avanposty, 73. 28 Ibid., 76-77. 31 Hryhorii Epik, Persha vesna (Kharkiv: 29 Ibid., 8. Literatura i mystetstvo, 1933), 91. 30 Ibid., 57. 32 Epik, Persha vesna, 110.

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If it were not for them, those city commissars would the village council to the military headquarters not find anything. They would have walked, sniffed of historic offensives on “perennial traditions and left. [But the locals] searched all over. They of peasant backwardness and famines” – in took everything and have not left a thing; they line with the official interpretation of the aims damaged [it all] and lived off some of it.33 of collectivization.37 In fact, many perpetrators on village and In Epik’s representation, most activists district levels in Epik’s novel see violence as a are conformists who follow the orders of necessary tool to subjugate the majority in the authorities. village who are too backward to be persuaded A more fanatical type, represented by Lohvyn, with words. When the secretary of the RPK is murdered by a mob. The women in the Kholod goes to Bahva after a lynching, he crowd also sexually assault several activists has no reservations about violence, even and destroy the newly created collective against the poor peasants who need to be farm. Indeed, these were the risks that many “squashed without mercy... they are dark.”38 perpetrators faced on the ground. In Mykola In a conversation with the village officials, Dukyn’s short novel Did Topolia (Grandpa Kholod dehumanizes the peasants further by Topolia, 1933), a plenipotentiary from Moscow comparing them to dormant parasites. At the named Toporkov who chaired a Party cell village meeting following the death of Lohvyn, and ’organised the masses’ in a village is shot he ignores the questions about helping dead, like Lohvyn, through an open window the starving children of the repressed and by “kulaks.”34 Before Lohvyn dies in Epik’s announces that the village will be punished novel, he condemns peasants who do not further. Likewise Vol’ha and her comrades appreciate the changes that he is fighting for: laugh at the claims that people are dying from “What bastards! You work for them, and they hunger and “fall dead like flies.”39 kill you.”35 If Epik mentions the famine only in passing Some of Lohvyn’s comrades-in-arms, who in 1933, Dokia Humenna writes about the are brutalised by the events in the Civil War, conditions laying the groundwork for the display traits of sadism. Red Amy veterans devastation to come in her novel Lysty zi Vol’ha Bosa and Mykola Chubuk remember Stepovoii Ukraiiny (The Letters from Steppe local peasantry supporting the Whites during Ukraine, 1928). In her work, she awkwardly the war and killing Vol’ha’s husband. They presents Soviet officials as unable to estimate now seek revenge: “You, comrades-KNS- how much “excess” grain would be stored members, are not KNS until you break a skull by the individual peasants who refused of a kulak.”36 The presence of perpetrators in to join the collectives. As a result, they the village becomes intimidating: at night they have to “pump out” all grain and resort ride from house to house with torches and to “excesses.”40 Humenna concentrates on instantly decide on individual cases of refusals the management of one collective farm, to join the collective farm. Epik even compares highlighting its incompetence in agriculture,

37 Ibid., 134. 33 Epik, Persha vesna, 168. 38 Ibid., 24. 34 Mykola Dukyn, “Did Topolia,” in 39 Ibid., 151-153. Chervonyi Shliakh, no 2 (1933), 56. 40 Dokia Humenna, Lysty zi stepovoii 35 Epik, Persha vesna, 201. Ukraiiny, in Pluh, no 10-11 (1928), 40-41. 36 Ibid., 158.

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dependence on state investments, and even “kulak hairdressers.”41 He concludes that they sexual corruption. In short, she presents were only hungry people, not kulaks. While the concerns of many farmers resisting Honchar does not explain who these field collectivization at the time, many of which guards were or how the famine was organized, were ridiculed by other Soviet writers. his very mention of its perpetrators mistaking Humenna reveals a foundational connection the victims for enemies is significant in the between these Soviet policies in the cultural memory of the Holodomor, especially countryside and mass famine, portraying given the novel’s reach to a wide readership. the perpetrators as marginal elements of the Another novel that overcame the bounds village community. Her critical depictions of of conventional censorship is Mykhailo collective farms were enough for Humenna Stel’makh’s novel Chotyry Brody (The Four to be refused membership in the Writers Fords, 1978), which received the prestigious Union of Ukraine and all the benefits Shevchenko award in 1980. In the novel, it brought at the time, including employment, Stel’makh describes many aspects of the ration cards and accommodation. famine that censors normally insisted on excluding, thus delaying the novel’s Soviet prose during the Thaw publication. Stel’makh describes how local officials tried to save the starving and blames This sympathetic depiction of collectivization the famine in the “wicked” year on the poor and its perpetrators, which was more or less harvest exacerbated by primitive agriculture, in line with the official ideology at the time, which the Party sought to change. From brief continued until the death of Stalin. After comments, we learn that some bread was taken Khrushchev denounced Stalin’s crimes and away from the peasants as taxes or surplus. the “cult of personality” at the Twentieth Stel’makh, coming from a KNS background Party Congress in 1956, however, some and a student of agriculture during the Ukrainian Soviet writers dared to allude to Holodomor,42 was very likely to be involved collectivization and the famine again. As in grain procurement himself. Therefore he critical as he was of Stalinism in the so-called avoids explaining who requisitioned the grain, “Secret Speech,” Khrushchev did not question mentioning house searches only in passing. the official interpretation of collectivization The protagonist Bondarenko in Chotyry Brody and the role its perpetrators played at the time. is an ideological perpetrator. Like Stel’makh Yet a number of Soviet writers did question himself, he returns to his native village as a this interpretation in an attempt to reassess the teacher and confiscates grain in 1932-1933. The events of 1932-1933. Famed Ukrainian writer author does not delve into the process of house Oles’ Honchar mentions the famine in his searches but repeatedly stresses Bondarenko’s novel Liudyna i Zbroia (Man and Arms, 1958). firm socialist beliefs, his desire to change One of his characters, Reshetnyk, describes his life for the better, and his incompetence in experience of the Holodomor to his comrade- managing the collective farm. Bondarenko is in-arms during the Second World War. The only survivor in his family, Reshetnyk used 41 Oles’ Honchar, Tvory v 7-y tomakh, vol. 4, to cut the ears of wheat while trying to avoid (Kyiv: Dnipro, 1988), 122. 42 Ivan Semenchuk, Mykhailo Stel’makh: narys the field guards, who called children like him tvorchosti (Kyiv: Dnipro, 1982).

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appointed as chairman of a collective farm by the soul out of him.” He dislikes peasants district officials Musul’bas and Sahaidak, who who compare him to a vulture despite his are likened to fearless but fair kozaks and who, handsome appearance. Ambitious, Stupach like other perpetrators in Soviet novels, are Red tends to see conspiracy everywhere and Army Veterans. Moreover, Sahaidak assigns prefers to employ terror in his work “so that Bondarenko the task of “saving people” and one would be scared of their own.” He insists completing the sowing campaign in 1933 on taking all of the harvest of 1932 out of the despite having no seeds. Having a carte blanche village. Perpetrators Sahaidak and Musulbas from the superiors who promise to “keep comment on the necessity to tolerate people their eyes open but not to slap his hands,” like him while constructing a better future. “Bondarenko orders his friend and a collective Stupach matches the description of the farmer, Vasyl,” to leave some of the procured Chekist commissar of the post-revolutionary milk for the newly organized village nursery. years provided by Bilynkis: When Vasyl’ reminds him that they would face trial for such action, Bondarenko reasons A typical, rather good-looking man, he had the that they might not. Later in the novel Vasyl’ most unpleasant employment. He was sent, or becomes a policeman, while Bondarenko stays maybe himself volunteered, whenever there was a in his position of the farm chairman. need to abuse and insult someone.43 A group of perpetrator-fanatics, however, compromise their beliefs when they tolerate Through the words of Bondarenko, Stel’makh the profiteers and careerists. Bondarenko explains that executives like Stupach with their believes it is the profiteer Mahazanyk who has hatred towards the peasants are to blame for exacerbated the famine in the village. Indeed, the 1932-1933 famine. According to Myroslav Mahazanyk uses the famine to his benefit: Shkandrij, Jewish cadres were less visible in he sells the grain that he acquires through the violence of the Holodomor or in the terror participation in requisition to desperate of the thirties compared to the early years peasants at extortionate prices, settles scores of the revolutionary and post-revolutionary with former enemies and pursues various love period.44 interests. Mahazanyk is a former Ukrainian A similar depiction of the perpetrators could national activist and a successful entrepreneur be found in other Soviet novels that remained who does not follow any ideology and firmly within the canon of social realism, such welcomes the Nazis during the war when it as Liudy ne angely (People Are No Angels, 1962) means profit for him. When he approaches by Ivan Stadniuk and Nevmyrushchyi Khlib Bondarenko with business ideas about how (Immortal Bread, 1981) by Petro Lanovenko.45 to develop the struggling collective farm, The famine is explained as a temporary phase Bondarenko refuses and lets the produce rot. The careerist district prosecutor Stupach is 43 Lazar Bilynkis, ’Hromadianska viina na Ukraiini ta ievrei (Fragmenty spohadiv; publikatsiia a convinced Communist, always dressed in L. Padun-Luk’ianovoii),’ Khronika 2000, (1998), 237. military uniform. From short remarks we 44 Myroslav Shkandrij, Jews in Ukrainian literature: representation and identity (New Haven: learn that he is a Jew. Born in a small town, Yale University Press, 2009), 146. he “does not know the village and does not 45 O. Samiilenko, ’Velykyi Holod u tvorakh radians’kykh pys’mennykiv,’ Suchasnist’, 1989, no 6 want to know it” and “the early 1920s pushed (338): 23.

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in the socialist transformation of the village, types of perpetrators of the famine as well caused by poor local management, kulak as their hierarchy – from village activists to sabotage or natural causes. Its perpetrators – the provincial leaders and Stalin from 1929 village activists, workers, teachers, village and to 1933. The events start in Khorol, where district officials – are ideological perpetrators Hryhorii Ginzburg, the secretary of the RPK, who are concerned about the lives of the finds himself under pressure from the oblast’ peasants. As in Chotyry Brody, the famine is committee to speed up collectivization in blamed on local officials who were either his district. He is also confused with the careerists or counter-revolutionaries. discrepancy between Stalin’s views on collectivization and his own experience.49 Samvydav and Tamvydav Novels of the Ginzburg writes a letter to Stalin criticising Soviet Period his policy. He is then summoned to the first secretary of the oblast’ Party committee, Anatolii Dimarov’s I budut’ liudy (There Will who expels him from the Party. Ginzburg Be People, 1964) initially had a chapter on shoots himself at the meeting. Such incidents collectivization and the famine, but it was indeed took place at the time. Maksudov, for deemed inappropriate by reviewer Mul’tykh example, notes the increased rates of suicide from the Institute of the History of Party.46 among Party officials during the famine as the Dimarov’s own father was dekulakized, and result of their being “ridden with guilt and his mother relocated as a teacher to another full of sympathy for the starving” as well as village with the children and changed their their inability to change anything.50 surname. In their new village, she too had Following his death, the Khorol district to participate in dekulakization, so Dimarov committee is ’reinforced’ with the careerist knew the perpetrators’ experience well.47 But Suslov, who follows orders with the Multykh’s revision of his novel criticized his conviction that the transformation of the representation of perpetrators and epitomizes village requires violence. Most of Ginzburg’s the guidance for the authors’ writings about former colleagues immediately signal support the 1930s: for Suslov’s methods. For instance, another member of the committee, Put’ko, supports [...] completely re-evaluate the events in the Suslov by repeating his words and silently village in late 1929 – early 1930 according to the agreeing when he criticizes him. He travels documents and existing historiography […]48 to the village of Tarasivka in Khorol district to find like-minded executives. Together with The chapter was published as a separate novel Suslov, Put’ko expels from the Party the head The Hungry Thirties (A Parable About Bread) of the village council and Red Army veteran abroad in 1989 and in Ukraine in 1990. Hanzha, who refuses to use repressions in the In this work Dimarov explores different village. His partner and fellow Communist Ol’ha solemnly laments his imprisonment 46 Anatolii Dimarov, ’Na Volyni ia stav Ukraiintsem,’ Den’, June 26, 2003, https://day.Kyiv. ua/uk/article/cuspilstvo/anatoliy-dimarov-na- 49 Reference to Stalin’s article ’The Year of volini-ya-stav-ukrayincem the Great Break.’ 47 Dimarov, Prozhyty i rozpovisty..., 1997, 37. 50 Sergei Maksudov and Marta D. Olynyk, 48 Ibid., 181. ’Dehumanization’, 144.

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and reluctance to conform but testifies against finds himself in the company of other district him, together with his nephew Volod’ka. officials waiting anxiously to be seen behind A perpetrator and Red Army veteran like the big black leather doors. The material of Volod’ka, Ol’ha receives a verbal warning these doors reminds him of the black leather for her lack of vigilance and is distrusted by of the Chekist uniform, which communicates Put’ko: the authority of higher Soviet officials over the rank-and-file officials. While Ginzburg This woman raised her hand herself. Besides, she gradually submits to the intimidation of the big had been Hanzha’s mistress. We won’t let you black doors, he eventually finds the courage to forget that until the day you die, dearie! You’ll protest – something most perpetrators in the remain forever under suspicion.51 novel cannot, or do not, do. In other words, Dimarov suggests that it was bureaucracy At the same time Volod’ka is appointed as of the state that made people like Volod’ka chairman of the collective farm that he is to dangerous, weaponizing their dutiful official create. Initially he is enthusiastic and anxious conscientiousness to facilitate the famine in to prove his loyalty to the Party and feels his village. empowered by district backing: Indeed, Volod’ka is similar to Adolf Eichmann in his motives and his character. He is unaware After having been in town, Volod’ka suddenly felt of the wickedness of his actions: that he wielded frightening power: he could run whomever he wanted to out of the village.52 Had he wanted people to die like this? Had he thought about this as he swept the grain out of the Despite his threats, only 12 out of 37 activists village? Sweeping it out to the last granule, just to join the collective farm “voluntarily.” Worried fulfil that forthcoming plan[…] 53 that district officials would blame him, he gradually transforms into a committed He has neither killed anyone personally, nor perpetrator, compiling a list of people to be has he ordered anyone to be killed. He is not a deported to Siberia and refusing to return food sadist or psychopath; nor are his subordinates, to his father-in-law who dies from starvation. who take the grain from the families in winter Dimarov suggests that ideology alone to save it for spring sowing and from “being cannot adequately account for Volod’ka’s fed to your children.”54 They seem “terribly participation in the Holodomor, given the and terrifyingly normal.” refusal of convinced Communists Ginzburg Dimarov’s character of the teacher Tania is a and Hanzha to participate. He therefore raises classic example of a compromised perpetrator. the question of the role of the modern state, During a meeting on dekulakization, she and above all the culture of fear, in the vertical disapproves of the list for deportation, but structure of the totalitarian state. When remains silent as she fears for herself and her Ginzburg waits for a meeting in the reception children. Defined through her relations to the room of the first secretary of the oblast’, he men – her father was a priest, her husband is kulak, her brother is repressed – she feels 51 Anatolii Dimarov, In Stalin’s Shadows (Melbourne: Bayda Books, 1989), 137. 53 Dimarov, In Stalin’s Shadows, 157. 52 Ibid., 132. 54 Ibid., 152.

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insecure and is grateful not to be included Dimarov’s other novel set during the in the dekulakization brigade. Tania lives Holodomor, Samosud (Lynching, 1990), with her two young sons in the house of the focusses entirely on careerist Danylo Sokalo deported; she is swollen from hunger and fears and follows his rise from the village level even responding to the school warden who perpetrator to the secretary of the RPK. An comments on children suffering needlessly ambitious Komsomol, Danylo fights with in the famine. Tania prefers not to discuss the religion in his village and ironically takes intentions of the leaders out of fear of losing down a giant cross erected by his distant her job or being arrested. Vulnerable and Cossack ancestor, after whom the village alone, Tania is desperate to survive and keeps was named. To prevent it from being erected her silence until her death in the 1980s. again, Danylo defecates on top of it. He also Finally, Dimarov completes the circle of ensures that the village is renamed ’Chervona perpetrators by taking a local old man Kommuna’ (Red Commune) to prove his Grandpa Khlypavka to Stalin. While following loyalty to the cause. Having secured a gun the orders of Volod’ka to keep the starving from district authorities, “he has already away from the village grain store, Khlypavka felt important.” Danylo is driven not only believes that Stalin is not aware of the dire by career aspirations, but by jealousy: “The situation and decides to travel to Moscow to older he got, the more he hated anyone who inform him. His son works at the railway and dared to live better than him.”56 When he helps Khlypavka travel to Kharkiv in a first- accidentally shoots his hand, he blames Vasyl’ class compartment – something impossible for Kovalenko for the failed assassination attempt most starving peasants at the time. His trip – simply because Vasyl’ had better shoes than is cut short by cordons near Moscow, and he Danylo long ago. On advice of a policeman, he deduces that Stalin is aware of the starving accuses four more men from the village, all of peasants trying to reach the capital and does whom are executed after a widely publicised not want to see them. After the old man dies, trial. he demands God punish Stalin and alleges his In 1932 Danylo jumps at a chance to advance complicity in failing to do so: his career by volunteering to enforce grain procurement. At a key meeting with a You teach us in the Holy Scriptures that all who member of the TsK KP(b)U, where other pass by a crime become criminals themselves, that village officials argue grain procurement all who help bandits become bandits themselves. So quotas are impossible, Danylo raises his hand who can judge us, if You turn from us?55 to promise 200% of the target. A careerist and a profiteer who keeps possessions of the When God asks the victims of the famine who deported for personal use, Danylo feels elated killed them, they all point at Stalin. While God with his grand plans: “I will procure grain! I finds no adequate punishment for the “horrific will do everything, comrade secretary! I will crimes” of Stalin, Dimarov does not discuss smash myself, but I will do it!” He organises punishment for Suslov, Khlypavka, Volod’ka agitation brigades with teenagers, Komsomol, and others who passed by a crime. KNS and “poor teachers who are responsible

56 A. Dimarov, Samosud: povisti, opovidannia, 55 Dimarov, In Stalin’s Shadows, 172. etiudy (Kyiv: Ukraiins’kyi pys’mennyk, 1999), 81.

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for everything” and bullies the peasants into in Ukraine to procure grain named Anna the collective by boarding up their houses and Stepanovna Mikhaliova, a war widow living deporting those who resisted. While searching with her nephew in southern Russia. She finds for grain, he starts with individual farmers a soulmate in the protagonist of the novel and who left the collective in 1930, avenging them confides in him. A few weeks later, Anna dies for undermining his efforts and achievements of lung cancer. Her account of the rank-and- in the past. He learns of metal rods to prod file perpetrator is strikingly elaborate. the surfaces in the district and orders a local In an interview, Grossman’s daughter, blacksmith to make some for his brigades. Ekaterina Korotkova, confirmed to me that During the searches, he brutally kills, directly he based Anna’s character on a woman and indirectly, half the village. This loyalty named Pelageia Semenova, who was indeed a eventually pays off, and he moves to the perpetrator of the famine in east Ukraine.57 Yet district and eventually becomes the secretary as opposed to Anna, Pelageia Semenova lived of the RPK. a long life and resided in central Moscow Danylo’s life changes quickly during the and worked as a maid in the family of the German invasion in 1941. Having stayed on the poet Nikolai Zabolots’kii, whom Grossman occupied territory, he destroys local supplies knew well. Semenova was born into a peasant and accidentally kills his former Komsomol family in Likhoslavsk, Tver oblast’; after the colleague Vustia, a conformist and a diligent famine, she returned to Russia. It is unknown worker herself. Now the chairwoman of the how she reflected upon her participation in collective, she tried to prevent Danylo from the Holodomor or how she explained her burning the barn with hundreds of calves. motivations. Controversy was not uncommon One more murder later, he is arrested by in her life: Zabolots’kyi, repressed in 1938 Vasyl’ Kovalenko who returned to the village, and released from the camps after Stalin’s and is now in the German police. Kovalenko death, actually suspected that Semenova allows the mob, headed by Vustia’s mother, to was reporting him to the secret services and lynch Danylo. The murder is highly publicised eventually asked her to leave. She then came in German newspapers. Once the village to the Grossmans.58 is freed from the Germans, it is burnt to the In Grossman’s novel, Anna compares her ground by the NKVD as collective reprisal memories of grain procurement to a piece for the lynching of the secretary of the district of shrapnel in her heart. At the time of committee. Its male inhabitants are executed, collectivization, Anna was 22 years old; as whilst its surviving women and children are she puts it, she was beautiful but unkind sent to camps in Siberia. inside. She worked as a cleaner at the district Another novel set during the famine published executive committee in Russia and heard about abroad and circulated in samvydav is Vasilii the famine from the officials. She believed that Grossman’s Vse techet (Forever Flowing, 1970). starvation was caused not by collectivization Grossman presents the perpetrator of Stalinist but by extortionate procurement quotas and policies according to four types: sadists, the confiscation of all foodstuffs. Later she conformists, the compromised, and the ideologically driven. Grossman also includes a 57 Interview with Ekaterina Korotkova in Moscow on 12.04.2014. confession of a Party plenipotentiary deployed 58 Ibid.

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was sent as a bookkeeper to a local collective the rank-and-file perpetrators were expected farm and then transferred to work in the same to provide their superiors with optimistic capacity in Ukraine, where collectivization numbers, while the quotas from the top, based was facing more problems because “private on those numbers, were disseminated back property rules the head of the Khokhol.”59 down. In her view, Stalin was aware of the When describing the village activists in famine but chose not to help the starving and Grossman’s Vse techet, Anna notes that most carried on with the confiscation policy, thus people were honest or ordinary, but that killing Soviet citizens deliberately and hiding their actions led to exactly the same results the truth from the world. What strikes her the as the actions of those who were cruel to the most is that perpetrators like her, on all levels victims. Most of the activists were local, she of the state machine, made this mass killing explains: they were representatives of the possible. This killing of men, women and even RPK and executive committee, Komsomol, the children convinces Anna that human life in DPU, police and sometimes even the military. the Soviet Union is worthless. During dekulakization, the empowered When peasants in Anna’s village start howling activists perceived themselves as heroes from hunger, she feels that she had to eat her and stopped seeing the peasants whom they rations in the field. In the field she hears hungry procured grain from, dekulakized or deported cries from a neighbouring village. None of her as human beings. In Grossman’s Vse techet, colleagues share the rations with the victims. this dehumanization, which was exacerbated At the time, a plenipotentiary from the city by propaganda, is at the root of their excessive Party organization joked: “Such parasites! violence. As Anna notes, she felt that the They even search for acorns under the snow to victims were ’dirty’, ’sick’ and ’backward’. avoid working.”60 Anna sees people driven by She failed to see them as people, especially hunger to utter despair; these images stay in after regular meetings, special instructions her memory for the rest of her life. When the and media messages about resistant peasants last person in the village dies, the management being nothing but ’vermin’ and ’parasites’. of the collective farm is transferred to the city. Anna was also included in a troika – as one of Anna is offered a position of a chairwoman three officials with extended rights of executive of another collective farm, a proposal she power. She compiled lists for dekulakization. refuses. Instead she leaves Ukraine to work as When it is decided whom to dekulakize at the a cook in Russia. village level, the principle for putting the list Grossman’s Anna Mikhaliova consistently together is presented as far from ideological. compares the man-made famine to the In fact, the decision is often made to settle mechanism of the Holocaust: it involves personal scores or to profit. Later Anna a similar dehumanization of the victims, comments on her colleagues being ordinary criminal decisions of the leadership against people, some sentimental and few truly bad. civilians, and local conformity. She attempts to She memorises all their conversations when make sense of the trauma by comparison in her they let down their guard while drunk. From confession. Anna gains a vantage point over all collected information, Anna concludes that her experience and looks at it from a distance,

59 V. Grossman, Forever Flowing (New York: Harper&Row, 1972), 149. 60 Ibid., 151.

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an approach similar to that employed by the horrible thug, one can live with him.”63 While protagonist of Sartre’s short novel The Wall Harkusha explains his participation in mass (1939).61 Witnessing the inevitability of death violence and theft by his will for survival, during the famine, like Pablo anticipating the whereas his colleague Mykola Khashchuvatyi dreaded wall before his execution during the seems to embrace the brutality and does not Civil War in Spain, Anna finds that she no justify his participation. longer cares about life. Her death is delayed Hutsalo then proceeds to a characterization of for 20 years, a punishment that comes despite officials Matvii Shpytal’nyk, the chairman of her repentance, which involves Anna seeing the collective farm, and Kindrat Iaremnyi, the the victims as human beings once again. She head of the village council. Both are careerists expresses empathy for many deported kulaks who display sadistic traits. In the midst of – women, the old and children who died in the famine, they play chess in front of the the crowded cargo trains even before reaching starving peasants working in the field. They their final destination. use official language to mask the facts, calling Another novel set during the famine that the starving peasants saboteurs and their offers a nuanced approach in its depiction of slave labour “a holiday.” They question the perpetrators is Sl’ozy Bozhoi Materi (The Tears ability of collective farmers to rise above their of Our Lady, 1990) by Ievhen Hutsalo. Like basic instincts and appreciate the modern Grossman, Hutsalo avoids the dichotomy music that they play in the fields. In a word, of reading perpetrators as either ideological Shpytal’nyk and Iaremnyi do not see the fanatics or profiteers. All of them are local. victims as humans. When a collective farmer Hutsalo confronts the violence in a Ukrainian receives a bowl of soup in the field without rural community at the time, starting with having worked that day, Shpytal’nyk knocks an episode in which a lynching mob kills a the bowl out of her hands despite knowing teenager suspected of theft.62 He then portrays that he is sentencing her to death. various perpetrators in one village, none of No matter how callous their actions, these whom benefit from the tragedy. The first perpetrators are not subject to Hutsalo’s perpetrator, Harkusha, who with his family judgement. In the novel, the line between starves to death, is neither an ideological perpetrators and victims is often blurred. perpetrator nor a sadist. He is simply a One of the activists dies of hunger along neighbour whom the protagonist does not with his children, while another is brutalized like. The second activist, Vasyl’ Hnoiovyi, beyond return to normal life. Perhaps to enjoys the benefits of power and theft but stress the depth of the tragedy rather than a loses his wife. Upon her death on the floor of division between perpetrators and victims, a manger, Ol’ka asks Vasyl’ and her sister to Hutsalo describes an episode of a beautiful move in together, adding that “though he is a woman in a silk dress stopping in the middle of the village where she sees emaciated 61 Jean-Paul Sartre, trans. A. Brown, The Wall children. Her face is depicted as the face (London: Hesperus, 2005). of Mary in Orthodox icons – with narrow 62 A similar incident of lynching before collectivization is described in the memoir by Dmitrii Goichenko, Krasnii apokalipsis: skvoz 63 Ievhen Hutsalo, Sliozy Bozhoi Materi, Ie. raskulachivanie i Golodomor (Kyiv: Ababagalamaga, Hutsalo, Take strashne, take solodke zhyttia (Kyiv: 2013), 20-21. Tempora, 2014), 281.

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black eyebrows and wide eyes full of of a Ukrainian peasant woman that starts empathy. She heads to the train station from with her birth and ends with her death in the district centre with a partner Dmytro 1933. The events of the famine are depicted Dmytrovych, an oblique district official, who through the eyes of characters closely related tells her that it is impossible to help all the to Maria. Their stories point to the destructive starving children. As she gives away white interference of the outside world with the bread to the starving children, she cries, with Ukrainian peasantry. Shkandrij argues that the her tears “pouring” or “shedding” as in the militarism and imperial power in such novels novel’s title. “transform a civilized peasant into an uncouth military man”66 who verbally and physically The Ukrainian Novel in the Diaspora abuses his family and speaks Russian. In order to escape this influence, one has to till Diaspora literature largely offers a different his land and enjoy ”the fullness of existence.” take on the perpetrators – from the position The author Samchuk applauds Maria’s second of the victim. While writers in diaspora have husband Kornii for becoming a farmer again: produced a number of works set during the “God himself is following you in the fields famine, only a few have reached the mass reader with a wind, in the sky, with the sun! God in Ukraine since 1991. Today Maria: Khronika himself!”67 In Samchuk’s interpretation, the odnoho zhyttia (Maria: The Chronicle of One Ukrainian village before the 1930s is “a golden Life, 1934) by Ulas Samchuk64 and Plan do dvoru country” and “a country of labour and bread” (Annihilation, 1951) by Todos’ Os’machka and that the sun loves, warms and protects. That Zovtyi Kniaz’ (The Yellow Prince, 1962) by idyll is destroyed by locals who, according to Vasyl’ Barka are recommended for reading Onats’kyi in his foreword to Maria’s edition in school curricula; they now contribute to in 1952, “drown in the waves of evil and the work of cultural memory among younger corruption of Moscow flooding.”68 generations of Ukrainians educated after 1991. In such a way, Samchuk gradually constructs Moreover, one of few fiction films related to an image of the perpetrator as the Other who the Holodomor, Holod-33 (1991), is based exploits the Ukrainian population. Most of on Zhovtyi Kniaz’. The perpetrators in these the Holodomor perpetrators in Maria are novelas are predominantly depicted as the repeatedly cast as the Other. The attack on the ethnically different Other, which is in line with peasantry by Komsomol activists, for instance, a Ukrainian nationalist ideology focussed on is likened to a Tatar invasion; as one of the Russian aggression in Ukraine.65 tortured characters exclaims, “Our country Maria: Khronika odnoho zhyttia is the story has not known such a Tatar-like plundering.”69 The field guards are not collective farmers 64 Samchuk was long an advocate for the cause of independence in his publications in OUN but “the soldiers of great and bright future periodicals, although he was not a member of that organization. See Shkandrij, Ukrainian Nationalism: Kal’varia, 2010). Politics, Ideology, and Literature, 1929-1956 (New 66 Myroslav Shkandrij, Ukrainian Nationalism: Haven: Yale University Press, 2015). Politics, Ideology, and Literature, 1929-1956 (London: 65 See Natalka Doliak, Chorna Doshka Yale University Press, 2015), p. 232. (Kharkiv: Klub Simeinoho Dozvillia, 2014); Svitlana 67 Ulas Samchuk, Maria. Khronika odnogo Talan, Rozkolote Nebo (Kharkiv: Klub Simeinoho zhittia(Kyiv: Smoloskyp, 2014), p. 123. Dozvillia, 2015); Halyna Marchuk, Try Doli (Kyiv: 68 Ibid., p. 12. Priorytet, 2012); Serhii Loboda, Vidlunnia (Lviv; 69 Ibid., p. 177.

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that came here from the distant north” or the young fanatics who strip churches and “make creatures with high cheekbones.70 a mess” out of farming, Maksym also supports Yet the very life of the protagonist Maria defies Soviet policies for his own benefit. Indeed, he the existence of such an idyllic village prior to advocates for collective farming as well as collectivization and the famine. Orphaned at for sexual emancipation and secularization, the age of six and neglected by her relatives, but at the same time he despises hard work, Maria starts working at the age of twelve. hires a maid and wants his children to leave She is illiterate; despite her hard work, she the village to seek careers in the city. In the remains in the lowest social stratum. Her end Maksym is brutally murdered by his first three children die of infectious diseases father – a premonition Maria had that “God that regularly ravage the countryside. Thus, will punish [him] not with a bat.”71 In short, the village was a place of “labour and bread” Maksym combines many features of the as well as a place of violence and premature Holodomor perpetrator: he is a Russian- and infantile death. Likewise, in Samchuk’s speaking quisling, Communist, profiteer, novel, it is possible to find behaviour befitting sadist, and atheist punished by God. What is a potential perpetrator among the locals important here is that this character, however prior to their exposure to the outside world grotesque, places agency for the Holodomor or Communist ideology – i.e. the Other. As back in the village. Local perpetrators are not a child, Maria’s own son Maksym steals, simply unconscious’ accomplices who with despises hard work, and tortures animals. “demagogical slogans push the village to its His parents explain his character as being moral and physical ruin.”72 “born that way” and call him a “bastard” and There are other perpetrators, and millions “buffoon” in public, convinced he will become of them, according to Samchuk: Komsomol nothing but a poor farmer. Therefore the members who are “strange, very strange village is neither void of violence nor of violent young people”73 but also “monsters,” ”hyenas” types who, under the influence of the Other, and “children with sold souls”74 who search become the perpetrators of collectivization houses, destroy everything in sight, and torture and the famine. the victims. Samchuk also points to the role of Maria’s son Maksym turns out to be the the modern state as the prime mover of the key village perpetrator. He represents the mechanism of the Holodomor on the ground: perpetrator-profiteer type. While Maria’s the policies initiated in the Central Committee first husband Hnat explains Maksym’s are leveraged down through various officials participation by being possessed by the devil and the media with its countless poets, – he has a dream in which the devil oversees epics and academics and enforced by the Maksym mutilating his mother – other Party, the army and the security service. He farmers ridicule Maksym for trying to get rich looks at various links between the sil’kory without hard work. Maksym denounces his who provided intelligence and the security brother, disowns and evicts his parents, and services and between propaganda brigades sees his sister and infant niece starve to death. While Shkandrij regards him as one of many 71 Ibid., 140. 72 Ibid., 15. 70 Ulas Samchuk, Maria. Khronika odnogo 73 Ibid., 167. zhittia(Kyiv: Smoloskyp, 2014), p. 187. 74 Ibid., 176.

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and “clever-eyed” shock-workers and their and police as trained perpetrators, village brigade leaders. officials and brigade leaders at the collective Plan do Dvoru (Annihilation, 1951) by Teodosii farm, village Komsomol and the informants Os’machka, which was included in the school among the locals. Additionally, Os’machka curriculum on Ukrainian literature in 2002,75 mentions the role of education officials in is an episode in the life of a collectivized persecuting the victims: when Nerad’ko village in central Ukraine during the early refuses to cooperate as a teacher, he is reported 1930s. Os’machka was encouraged to by a school inspector who, according to the write a novel on the man-made famine protagonist, is no longer Ukrainian and is by Volodymyr Vynnychenko,76 one of the “bought by Moscow.” leaders of Ukrainian national movement Ethnic Ukrainians among the trained following the dissolution of the Russian perpetrators are habituated to violence by the Empire. In Os’machka’s novel, the perpetrators Other: are the ethnically alien Other and diametrically opposed to the victims: [They] got used to arresting their fellow countrymen for nothing, and they take them to the […] armed, they [killed] the unarmed; full with prison in Balakleia day and night before dispatching food, they killed the starved and cold; smartly them to Siberia, Kolyma, Solovky and some to the dressed, they killed the ragged and patched […] other world... The policeman shook his humanity [They] killed without warning or asking questions off as if it was some awkward prostration.78 as they would kill prey.77 The local Komsomols vandalise the church, This opposition between perpetrator and detain the arrested and even serve as prison victim is stressed throughout Plan do guards and assist the murders. All of them, Dvoru: the antagonists – the conforming according to the narrator, are merely food chairman of the collective farm Khakhlov for the Soviet state, which he compares to a and the corrupt chekist Tiurin – are Russians, pig: sooner or later everyone is either eaten or and the local Komsomol, while dressed like chewed up. In such a way Os’machka removes ordinary Ukrainian young men in embroidered agency from local perpetrators who do not fit shirts, carry Moscow rifles. Like other victims the trope of the ethnically alien Other. in the novel, the protagonist Nerad’ko longs The key perpetrator on the ground, Iermilo for an independent Ukraine and remarks that Tiurin, heads both the district police and the the Communists from Russia are enslaving it. DPU. He epitomises all the qualities of the While the actual grain requisition is mentioned savage, ethnically alien Other: he is a sadist, only in passing, most of the groups instrumental profiteer, careerist, rapist and murderer from in enforcing the famine are present: the DPU Moscow. Tiurin stresses that in order to control countries like Ukraine one needs to 75 Snizhana Cherniuk, ’Obrazna symvolika u tvorakh Todosia Os’machky’ (PhD diss., Natsional’na use terror. He is feared even by his fellow Red Akademia Nauk Ukraiiny, Instytut Literatury, Army veteran Khakhlov. Though Ieshka’s 2002). 76 Todos’ Os’machka, Plan do dvoru (Toronto: surname is a derogatory term for a Ukrainian, Vydavnytsvo Ukraiins’koho Kanadiis’koho Legionu, 1951), p. 7. 77 Ibid., 171. 78 Ibid., 36.

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he is a Russian worker from Moscow who has they conform, not all of them survive: Klunok, met Lenin. While he approves “all means to for example, becomes increasingly paranoid speed up the triumph of the working class,” he and commits suicide. Such justice also extends is tired of torture and murder. After the suicide to Tiurin, who is murdered, and to Komsomol of one brigade leader, Ieshka is distraught Dulia, who is blinded while vandalising a and leaves for the district to report Tiurin but church. returns to consult with his domineering wife. During this eviction Tiurin brutally murders Indeed, Khakhlov’s wife Masha is involved Shyian, but it is only Skakun who confronts in all her husband’s decisions; however, her the DPU officer. In fact, the other three brigade character might have been included for a leaders hold Skakun back, with Buntush different purpose. Os’machka was known for calling Skakun: “You whore hydra of counter- misogynist comments,79 so it is conceivable revolution.”82 Skakun was known for his short that with Masha’s domination Os’machka temper in the village and once tried to take demonstrates Khaklov’s impotence to confront his own life. When he is ordered to assist the Tiurin. eviction, Skakun takes a carving knife with On the other hand, these antagonists would be presumable intention to kill Tiurin. On the helpless without locals who in the novel are the way to the farmstead he is dissuaded by the brigade leaders at the collective farm: Buntush, girl he loves, and she takes his knife away. In Tymish Klunok, Kopyt’ko and Skakun. In his actions Skakun’s character is reminiscent fact, Buntush also works as the secretary of of Dostoevsky’s Shatov in Besy (The Possessed, the village council and knows of all planned 1870-71). Disturbed by the changes from the repressions by Tiurin or Khakhlov, whom he outside, they fail to make sense of the new also assists. Although these local perpetrators order or to conform and attempt to establish seem “like wordless trees” to the victim justice. If Shatov’s name resembles a bear Shyian during the eviction of his family, he roused in the middle of winter – shatun – that nevertheless appeals to compassion by calling is either shot by the villagers or dies from them “brothers, comrades and parents.”80 In starvation, Skakun’s names connotes a horse this poignant scene Shyian reminds them that that is not easy to tame. It seems there is no he is a good person and helped each brigade place for either of them. Like Shatov, he is leader in one way or the other. In his plea, killed (by Tiurin) without hesitation. he is joined by his wife and daughter. The In the novel Zhovtyi Kniaz (The Yellow Prince, sight of the desperate family makes Kopyt’ko 1962), Vasyl’ Barka narrates the story of the move the hat over the eyes of Klunok, who Katrannyk family, who endure the famine. In presumably might show sympathy towards the foreword the author names the perpetrators the victims: “Maybe it is better not to look at responsible for the suffering and death: the it.”81 In private conversations, however, these army, the security services, the police, and men express their disapproval of Soviet rule workers from Russia. Those who executed the and the Russians policing Ukraine. Although orders on the ground had nothing humane left in them, implies Barka. They were “devilish 79 Mykhailo Slaboshpyts’kyi, ‘Pys’mennyk bezderzhavnoii natsii ne mih staty Nobelivs’kym cast aways” who shoot children “pilfering” in laureatom...’ Vydavnuche Zhyttia,No 3 (2001). 80 Os’machka, Plan do dvoru, p. 61. 81 Ibid., 62. 82 Ibid., 64.

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the fields and take away the last porridge from as guilty, now repents and turns to God. a baby. The appearance of the perpetrators is A glimpse of the perpetrators whose often compared by the victims to such sinister motivation was primarily to follow an order beasts as demons, dragons and snakes. They is given in the detailed depiction of a house are also compared to the soldiers even when search. During the search, one of the victims, they come to desacralize the local church. an old woman, approaches a fellow peasant Barka states that Komsomol members felt guarding the finds in the cart. She pleads uneasy before looting the church as they faced with him to leave food for the children. At the crowd of local people they knew well. The first the man ignores the old woman, recalling young men tried to avoid direct eye contact to himself the orders of Otrokhodin to take and replied to the questions with impatience. even crumbs. He also remembers the orders In the novel itself, however, Barka offers the coming from the very top, rendering the old reader a more nuanced presentation. While woman’s pleas irrelevant. When the woman reiterating the interpretation of the famine as tries to take food from the cart, he immediately the struggle between evil and good, Myron knocks her down. Moreover, when collective believes it was enabled by collectivization, farm workers try to chew a few grains while when some locals joined the collectives, working in the field, the guards, who come conformed and followed the new rules, from the same village, lash out and threaten receiving powers and guns. Likewise, the them with arrests. They search the clothes antagonist Party plenipotentiary Otrokhodin of farmers for grain, even those who are is first and foremost a careerist. He walks Communists. Myron Katrannyk thinks that away from the woman he loves when she the fellow villagers who voted in favour of faces repressions so that the relationship the collective farm are no better than the would not tarnish his membership in the officials procuring grain. These followers Party. Otrokhodin despises the peasantry but are impersonalized by Luk’ian who always regards deployment in the country as a step raises his arm, preferring to follow orders to advance his career. He already dreams of rather than defy them. But most victims in the the benefits of living in the capital: medals, novel name only one type of perpetrators – holidays, money. Otrokhodin believes the “the possessed ones from the capital city” Party line can change and prefers to stay loyal – when explaining who was involved in the to the Party leader rather than to the ideology. house searches. Barka also includes a perpetrator-fanatic in Barka develops the character of the perpetrator- the action of the novel. When the Katrannyks conformist further in portraying bureaucrats queue for bread in the city, they hear a story of in the city facing starving peasants on the a village perpetrator who died for no apparent street. The bureaucrats carry on with their reason. Coming from a wealthy farmer family, daily routines, enjoy their generous rations he was convinced collectivization was needed and make “speeches on building happiness.”83 to transform the peasantry and agriculture. His The narrator is dismayed: sudden death, presumably from a heart attack, is interpreted as a poetic justice by Katrannyk. ... not a single being has ever bathed in lies, like the His wife, who had previously supported his 83 Vasyl’ Barka, Zhovtyi Kniaz’ (Kyiv: Naukova Communist beliefs and regarded the starving Dumka, 2008), p. 162.

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Red Party. … Whoever dared to disagree or appeal Post-Soviet Ukrainian Prose to conscience is savaged at once.84 The number of novels based on the Holodomor When a group of civil servants see Myron in Ukraine has been steadily increasing since overhearing them discussing food, they swiftly 1991. Three novels in particular have received, finish their conversation as he is not one of or were nominated for, prestigious awards “them.” They express a disgust at the starving. in Ukraine: Chorna Doshka (The Black Board, Indignant at the sights of bread queues in the 2014) by Natalka Doliak; Rozkolote Nebo city, they blame the peasantry for the famine. (The Broken Sky, 2015) by Svitlana Talan86; Eventually, the bureaucrats become immune and Tema dlia Medytatsii (The Theme for to the suffering and death. Myron observes Meditation, 2004) by Leonid Kononovych.87 newspaper employees ignoring a corpse of a Other recent works present readings of the dead woman in a puddle of mud when they Holodomor perpetrators in line with these come out to smoke outside their office. The three prominent works.88 corpse has been lying there for many days. Chorna Doshka is a story of a perpetrator- Finally, Barka also alludes to characters who turned-victim Oles’ Ternovyi in a village of do not follow orders and try to help the victims. Veselivka. His diary is re-discovered by his A Party official, Zinchenko, allows peasants to great-grandson Sashko whose name stresses mow hay in the park; he is swiftly replaced the trans-generational connection between by a more vigilant Communist. Likewise, the famine and today (both names derive the head of the local collective farm advises from Oleksandr). Sashko also has nightmares artisans to flee the village and fears a tragic end about the starving peasants whom his great- for himself. Like Dimarov, Barka mentions a grandfather had seen in real life. In the end secretary of the RPK who commits suicide after of the novel it is revealed that Sashko is the orders from Moscow, thus vesting agency also the offspring of another perpetrator in back in the Kremlin. Myron and a village Veselivka. The name of the novel highlights accountant happen to be nearby at the time the experience of the village on the so called and read the note of the deceased, who viewed “black board,” when a number of repressive the orders as the death sentence for the village measures were applied until the fulfilment of and refused to execute them. Together with the the grain procurement quota. These measures accountant, Myron concludes that at least this included the withdrawal of all vital supplies person was honest “in their own way”. While like matches, salt and gas as well as preventing he presents various types of perpetrators and the inhabitants from leaving the village. At the their motives, Barka repeatedly underscores end of 1933 Veselivka ceased to exist. throughout the novel that Moscow is the site Doliak starts with ideological perpetrators: of a concentration of evil that “takes blood,”85 with most perpetrators portrayed in yellow 86 Both novels received special awards ‘Publisher’s Choice’ at the competition Koronatsiia and grey as servants of the Yellow Prince. Slova in 2014, http://koronatsiya.com/peremozhci- konkursu-koronaciya-slova-2014/ 87 This novel was nominated for the prestigious Shevchenko Award in 2006, http:// 84 Vasyl’ Barka, Zhovtyi Kniaz’ (Kyiv: Naukova www.umoloda.kiev.ua/number/611/164/22116/ Dumka, 2008), p. 163. 88 H. Marchuk, Try Doli (Kyiv, 2012); Loboda, 85 Ibid., 106. Vidlunnia (Lviv, Kal’variia, 2010).

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a reporter from the district newspaper Thus the language becomes a marker for the Oles’ and a head of the local village council perpetrator. Most of them wear black leather Palamarchuk. They both become disillusioned jackets and thus are referred to as chornoshkuri with the state policies, though at first they (black-skins) by the victims. Shkandrij regards justify the violence of collectivization. Oles’ perpetrators wearing black leather jackets listens to the instructors from Russia, thinks in as an additional tool to make the violence Russian, yet persuades his parents to join the “psychologically palatable to perpetrators and collective farm for rather banal reasons: “you observers alike.”90 have to do what you are asked to do...The The figure of the ethnically alien Other is times are such …”89 Doliak briefly mentions further developed with the character of Mark that Oles’ and Palamarchuk are members Mil’man who had worked in other districts in of the search brigades and dekulakized the Kharkiv oblast’ before coming to Veselivka. peasants, Oles’ also keeps the belongings he While in the Soviet prose on collectivization confiscates on behalf of the state. Deployment Jews are in the background and a similar to procure grain in his own village becomes a character could be found only in Chotyry Brody turning point. He stays with his parents, loses (Stupach with his “Byzantine eyes,” beautiful his ration as a reporter, confronts local officials looks and unflinching ways), post-Soviet prose and eventually finds himself in a mass grave. is abundant with Jews as chief perpetrators on At the same time, Palamarchuk writes a letter the ground. Doliak’s Mark Mil’man is also “a to the top authorities about the policies leading man with Asian cheek bones”91 who murders to the famine for which he is arrested and shot children in front of their parents as a form of dead. While the narrator refers to them as the torture and enjoys the benefits his position initial true believers, they also display the offers. Mil’man is extremely sadistic: on one qualities of conformists and profiteers. occasion he accuses a peasant of anti-semitism The second type of perpetrator – the sadists for which that person is later tortured to death; and criminals – is represented by the chekist on another occasion he throws two women Kaliuzhnyi. He hates peasants, tortures them into an enclosure with a bull for entertainment. and rapes a reporter. In his activities he is This reading of the Chekist is not new. In 1923 joined by two DPU servicemen: Mark Mil’man Vynnychenko described a typical Chekist and his Russian colleague Vesna. They as a Jew coming from a traditional milieu are assisted by many locals: the chairman of a small town. Jewish petty bourgeoisie of the collective farm Hil’ko, the head of and intelligentsia joined the Party ranks or the local KNS Zabolotnyi and a Russian the army in their struggle to survive during Party plenipotentiary Vladimir. Doliak also the post-revolutionary period. He traced the mentions a power thirsty sociopath and fury of the unflinching Jewish Chekist to his drunkard Hrishka. She stresses the Russian experience of desperate unemployment and ethnicity of some perpetrators, poor command pogroms when his family was likely to be of the Ukrainian language, previous criminal brutally murdered and their property stolen. past and alcohol addiction. In fact, it is only Thus the Chekist took part in grain requisition Kaliuzhnyi who speaks Ukrainian fluently. 90 M. Shkandrij, Jews in Ukrainian Literature..., p. 149. 89 Doliak, Chorna doshka, p. 53. 91 Doliak, Chorna doshka, p. 289.

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of the early 1920s which contributed to separately, there is nothing wrong with them, boys establishing the link between Jews and like boys.96 Communists in popular perception in the village.92 While the presence of Jews within The rest of the perpetrators are mentioned the Party and the Cheka and its successors was briefly or collectively like groups of chanting indeed large between in the 1920s,93 making pioneers that verbally abused dekulakized their participation disproportionate to their peasants. While the narrator explains that part in the general population, the number from 1932 expropriations were carried out of Ukrainians in the Soviet administration by people sent to the village from all parts of began to increase consistently from late the USSR, the victims in the novel comment 1920s.94 Making up about a third of the on them being local: “People are ours [local], Communist Party (Bolshevik) of Ukraine yet something changed them in such a way.”97 and their involvement in less than popular None of the perpetrators benefit from their enforcement policies might explain the participation. Moreover, all of them, except impression that the Jews were behind Oles’, are punished: become insane, repressed the collectivization and the famine by higher authorities, commit suicide or are that followed. Shkandrij also traces killed like Kaliuzhnyi. identification of the Bolshevik literary figure Lastly, Doliak mentions another group of with the Jewish commissar to the redeployment perpetrators, albeit obliquely. This group of the rhetoric of militant Bolshevism in the includes perpetrators who do not display late 1920s, when these popular perceptions pleasure in participation, nor receive of the Jewish-Bolshevism connection were substantial benefits. They follow orders. reinforced.95 This group includes a local teacher, Anna Additionally, there is a group of compromised Serhiivna, who humiliates children of perpetrators – the local youth: Oktiabryn, individual farmers at school and a local doctor, Lavryn, Sirozhunia and Maladyk girls who Lanovs’kyi, who does not state starvation in disown their parents; pioneers from a local the death certificates. They are joined by a school who take part in public harassment local perpetrator, Kyrylo Perekotypole, who of individual farmers. As a vulnerable at some point questions the local perpetrators’ perpetrator Oktiabryn has an emotional own safety in the forthcoming events. The breakdown after attacking a former friend. The surname of Perekotypole translates as victims express ambiguity in judging their “tumbleweed” which could be interpreted participation: as his lack of commitment to the village. According to other characters, Kyrylo […] scooped children up and stuffed their brains travelled the country searching for an easy with tales […] When you take each of them fortune and returned home with nothing. He is not directly involved in violence during the 92 Shkandrij, Jews in Ukrainian Literature..., searches, but still contributes to the famine by pp. 143-144. assisting the logistics of the famine. 93 Leonard Schapiro, Russian Studies (New York: Viking, 1988), p. 286. Another novel in the post-Soviet prose on the 94 Shkandrij, Jews in Ukrainian Literature..., p. 141. 96 Doliak, Chorna doshka, p. 145. 95 Ibid., pp. 140-142. 97 Ibid., p. 136.

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Holodomor is Rozkolote Nebo by Svitlana Talan, they gain little, Stupak is murdered whereas which follows a young woman, Varvara, the new chairman of the collective farm and her family through collectivization and secures food for the farm canteen in order to the famine. Rozkolote Nebo is a chronicle of organise a sowing campaign in early 1933. industrious farmers losing their fortunes The main perpetrators – the DPU servicemen and lives. Talan draws a striking distinction Ivan Lupikov and Hryhorii Bykov – represent between antagonists and protagonists, which several groups: conformists, sadists, profiteers makes a panoply of perpetrators similar to and the savage, the savage, ethnically alien the one in Chorna Doshka. The first type of the Other. Lupikov believes the ends justify the perpetrator is that of a repentant ideological means and quotes Stalin: “You cannot make perpetrator – Kuz’ma Shcherbak. He is the an omelette without breaking the eggs.”98 head of the local Party cell. Having worked Though he is often confused by information in the city, he is sent to his native village disseminated from the top, he never fails to of Pidkopaivka as a plenipotentiary to set follow orders. In November 1932 Ivan is joined up a collective farm and help with grain by Bykov. A self-described fanatic, he explains procurement. Though Kuz’ma is a staunch that only tough young people should take part Communist, he believes in voluntary, non- in house searches as local Komsomol organise violent collectivization and questions the into search brigades. He also uses metal rods orders from above. During the dekulakization to reveal the grain hidden underground and of Varvara’s father he calmly explains that leverages the orders to confiscate all food. resistance leads to further repressions. He tortures peasants and is abusive to the Kuz’ma shows pain at seeing peasants activists. Bykov is a link between the district suffering and dying; he condemns the abuse and the village level in the vertical chain of of power by some officials. Unable to change perpetration. He uses extreme violence and anything, he distributes food to the peasants benefits personally. Together with Lupikov he which leads to his arrest and death. represents the Other. The officials working alongside Kuz’ma are Seemingly there are no ordinary people two former poor peasants: a Red Army veteran among the local perpetrators. They are the and collective farm chairman, Semen Stupak, idle, drunks and local criminals, most of and the head of the village council, Maksym whom are known for their deviant behaviour Zhab’iak. At first the author characterizes prior to collectivization. One of the search them as honest and respectable people based brigade members is Hanna, who used to work on their reputation in the village. Soon their for Varvara’s family. Now a Komsomol, she motives for holding key positions become resents her previous social inferiority and questionable when they accept a bribe from seeks retribution. Hanna wears a red scarf and Varvara’s father and profit from dekulakizing a black leather jacket given to her by Bykov. their neighbours. For example, Stupak takes Her attire is the literary vogue for violence a cow from his neighbour Odarka, a widow and in defiance of gender expectations of the with six young children whose foodstuffs conservative village society. Hanna becomes have been confiscated already. Only one promiscuous and sexually abusive and even child in that family survived. Though Stupak and Zhab’iak seem to be profiteers, 98 Talan, Rozkolote nebo, p. 62.

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urinates in front of the victims into the food avoids representation of the largest group of that she cannot confiscate. Once all supplies perpetrators – ordinary people. in the village are exhausted, Bykov takes The novel Tema dlia medytatsii by Leonid her jacket back as he leaves the village while Kononovych offers a new take on the Hanna dies from malnutrition. Holodomor perpetrator – their life after A special role among the village perpetrators, the famine.99 As the survivors and the however, is reserved for a quisling son. In perpetrators continue to live in the same the same way as Maksym in Maria, Varvara’s village, Kononovych suggests, the past events brother Mykhailo disowns and evicts his shape their lives. In particular, the murder parents. During the eviction his mother of Iur’s grandfather during the Holodomor commits suicide. Like in Maria, his parents has long-term implications for his family. question themselves why their son rebels Orphaned at a young age and raised by against traditions and does not want to till the his widowed grandmother Chakunka, Iur land. Mykhailo benefits from participation constantly reminds the local officials of the and hopes his children will move to the city. murder they committed. At university he gets Like Maksym, Mykhailo is murdered. Clearly involved with the dissidents, is interrogated a profiteering type of local perpetrator, by the KGB, loses his love and lives in exile. this character is nevertheless described as Upon returning from the Serb-Croat war he alien to the village community and its rules is convinced that his family’s incompatibility and, therefore, is removed from the village. with the local establishment lies in the past. He Nevertheless Mykhailo is just one of the tracks the surviving and now dying activists locals that confiscates food and reports their only to realize that the problem primarily neighbours. is the regime rather than the individual Finally, Talan uses poetic justice for all perpetrators. perpetrators in the novel. Firstly, the travelling The novel is written in a form of meditation by musician Danylo claims that those “without the protagonist during which he tries to make God” will be punished. A similar prophecy sense of his life. The absence of a chronological was expressed by the local priest shortly sequence and the narrator’s shift from one before the church is closed down. Some of episode to another without any warning the antagonists are murdered while others reveals a trauma in post-memory of the die from illness. Like Doliak, Talan describes Holodomor. Moreover, gaps in the sentences the famine in its entirety: dekulakization and are the main pointers in such narratives of deportation of individual peasants, closure traumatic past.100 This new format of the of a local church, violent requisition of grain Holodomor novel also resembles that of the and foodstuffs, various survival strategies, French existentialists, which Kononovych has mental breakdown, rape, child abandonment, been translating into Ukrainian. In particular, necrophagy, cannibalism, suicide and murder. like the protagonist in Sartre’s story, The Wall, So many aspects to factor in by post-memory set amidst the Spanish Civil War, Iur deals writers requires consulting secondary works, 99 Leonid Kononovych, Tema dlia medytatsii archival documents and oral history, thus (Lviv: Kalvaria, 2004). producing an example of cultural memory 100 Michael Pickering and Emily Keightley, ’Trauma, discourse and communicative limits,’ par excellence. This example, however, Critical Discourse Studies, no 6 (2009).

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with the traumatic experience from temporal out and stabbed the peasants who did not meet and spatial distance. In both cases the main the grain quotas. While trying to understand characters rise above the fear of violence and their motives, Iur recalls that Dziakunka local perpetrators, and the feeling of loss but is mentally unstable, Bovkunykha was are unable to resume their previous lives. promiscuous and Stepa’s sexual frustration Before reaching that stage, however, Iur tries developed into psychosis. Based on his to trace the perpetrators – an exercise that observations, Iur concludes that between 30% becomes a jigsaw puzzle in the 1990s: Iur to 40% of the activists were mentally ill, even remembers his family mentioning various before the famine and their aberrant behaviour names as the victims always spoke of them, became the new norm. Iur also posits that albeit in passing. Iur learns about them as a young, beautiful women were the cruelest of child from Chakunka who constructs his post- all because they “refused to fulfil traditional memory. She calls them Bolsheviks and “bad female roles of housekeeping and childbirth people.” In the 1960s, when Iur randomly and became the activists instead.”101 Having asks her who are the “most important” people compared the female activists of the 1930s while thinking about the lyrics from a famous with female Komsomol members of the 1970s, song, Chakunka names the activists and calls Iur adds that it was their sexual frustration them “not good people” and “parasites” who that eventually made them participate and destroyed their family. resulted in their mental breakdown. First, there are profiteers. It is a local family This explanation of female perpetrators is not of Stoians that played a central role in the new. Violent women are often portrayed in village during the famine and in Iur’s life. The the media and literature as abnormal, insane eldest Stoian was a friend of Iur’s grandfather; maniacs who are often more cruel than their together they joined Petliura’s forces during male counterparts. Sjoberg and Gentry argue the Civil War. Consequently Stoian switched that the portrayal of female perpetrators in the sides, took part in collectivization and media and literature is reduced to “mothers, facilitated the murder of Iur senior. His son monsters or whores.”102 They either deny became the head of the village council and his their womanhood or abuse their sexuality. As grandson reported on the dissidents (and Iur) the traditional rural community celebrated to the KGB in the 1970s. Stoian the grandson nurturing, virtuous and restrained women, argues that Soviet rule is, in effect, the rule of female participation in mass violence during ordinary people and he urges Iur to conform. the Holodomor did not fit in that worldview. The Stoians kept key positions locally long While ordinary women too can commit after the Holodomor and the collapse of the horrendous crimes and physically or sexually USSR. abuse and kill for the same reasons as men,103 Secondly, there is a large group of sadists. In the Iur sees them as mentally or sexually disturbed novel these activists are four attractive women women. – Dziakunka, Bovkunykha, Chykyldykh and Finally, Iur reveals the largesors – seemingly Stepa Ivashchenko. They enjoy conducting 101 Kononovych, Tema dlia medytatsii, p. 220. house searches, humiliating their victims as 102 Laura Sjoberg and Caron E. Gentry, well as torturing and murdering them. For Mothers, monsters, whores – women’s violence in global politics (London: Zed Books, 2007), p. 98. instance, Stepa burned heels, gauged the eyes 103 Smeulers, ‘Female perpetrators,’ p. 207.

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ordinary people. One of them, Bahrii, was a commit suicide like Hordii who buried many former plenipotentiary who was in charge starving peasants alive. The author also places of the search brigades and after the famine the guilt of perpetrators escaping the justice became the headmaster in the village school. with the survivors. Eventually Iur argues He has an ordinary house, suffers from the village perpetrators do have agency as age-related illnesses and sees no sense in they were all born in the same small thatched establishing a higher moral ground for either village huts as the victims. side. Bahrii explains his participation by the circumstances. While we know that he killed Conclusion at least three people on his own initiative in 1933, he interprets the past as a necessary evil. This article has demonstrated that most In fact, his narrative is similar to Iur’s: only the Ukrainian novels operate with a narrow perpetrators are the victims. That is, he recalls understanding of perpetrators of the Iur’s grandfather killing many Communists Holodomor on the ground, characterizing who had large families. He stresses that Iur’s agency as either embraced (as fanatics) or grandfather was not popular in the village and displaced (as foreign Others). The militant over 40 people were involved in rounding him Bolshevik writing from 1928 to 1933 focuses up. Thus he implies a large number of locals on a war in the countryside that demands among perpetrators. Bahrii quotes other people action and a suspension of compassion and in the village accusing Iur of causing trouble critical thinking. In accordance with the official by looking into the past. Iur understands position on collectivization, the rank-and-file that with perpetrators entrenched in the state perpetrators are fanatics, eager to transform machine and with a silent acceptance of the the countryside at all costs. War is the masses, his country still remains the hostage dominant metaphor; the village is backward; of its gruesome past. traditionalist ways need to be upturned like To compensate for the absence of justice, the the soil in the boundaries between the fields author turns to poetic justice as well as the cases of individual farmers. They are the village of brutal revenge done to the local perpetrators Komsomol, KNS members, emancipated after the famine. While Stoian senior dies of village women and Party plenipotentiaries alcoholism, all but one female perpetrator who sometimes come from outside Ukraine become mentally ill. Bovkunykha is torn apart but mostly come from within the republic. As by the Soviet partisans when fleeing with the we have seen, many characters are based on retreating Germans during the the Second the actual perpetrators. World War. One of the partisans was Pavlo, At the same time, writers in the Ukrainian whom she threw out in the snow with his diaspora and in independent Ukraine stress three siblings in 1933. As all his brothers died the Otherness of the perpetrators. They tend from hypothermia, Pavlo thanked God for the to be Russians or Jews. Even if the perpetrators chance to exact revenge. Poetic justice extends of the Holodomor are locals, they do not truly to the children of the perpetrators too – belong to the village. They are quisling sons, Dziakunka’s son became a thief and died from profiteers or people known for their deviant drug addiction while Stoian’s grandson dies behaviour who later face poetic justice. While in a car crash. Other perpetrators are killed or oral memory sources describe brigades being

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drawn mainly from local residents, in these reading of the perpetrators as the savage novels, they speak Russian, have Asian facial Other or village outcasts while mentioning features or come from the city. Samvydav other groups of perpetrators obliquely. and tamvydav novels, however, offer a more nuanced picture of the men and women on the ground. Grossman, Dimarov and Hutsalo avoid totalising narratives. All three writers explore various groups of perpetrators within About the author a wider context, examining their motivation Daria Mattingly is a lecturer in Soviet History and actions and considering the ways that at the University of Cambridge where she has they make sense of their experience. The recently submitted her doctoral thesis. This number of Russian-speaking characters in interdisciplinary examination of the identities, their novels reflect the number of Russian- activities and memorial traces of the rank- speaking Communists among district officials and-file perpetrators of the 1932-33 famine in at the time. By and large the rank-and-file Ukraine won Daria the Best Doctoral Paper perpetrators of the Holodomor in the novels of Award at the ASN World Convention, at Dimarov, Hutsalo and Grossman are ordinary Columbia University, in 2015. Mattingly is people in extraordinary circumstances. In post- also a convener of a research group, Places Soviet prose, meanwhile, Ukrainian writers of Amnesia, at University of Cambridge. Her continue to grapple with the sensitive issue of interests include European history since 1890, local perpetration, offering a prosopographical cultural history and perpetrator studies.

Euxeinos, Vol. 9, No. 27 / 2019 39 A Chance for Survival: Trapped within the Confrontation between Unified State Political Department and Torgsin1

by Mykola Horokh

Abstract The articles uses previously unknown sources to analyze the issues of confrontation between the Special Office for Trade with Foreigners on the territory of the USSR (shortly – “Torgsin”) and the Unified State Political Directorate (later – People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs). Torgsin is an understudied feature in the history of the Soviet Union of the first half of the 1930s. While closed distribution centers, cooperatives, commercial stores, the “black” market, and the card rationing system operated, the Torgsin network stores were by far the only examples of open state trade where every citizen could purchase the commodities s/he needed and the network itself was the most successful industrialization-oriented trade organization. The article defines the role of the USPD in the life of Torgsin; it pinpoints key controversies between the organizations that intensified confrontation between them; and compares their efficiency. The timeline of the research is the period between 1930 and 1936, from the moment of establishment of the Office to its liquidation.

Keywords: Torgsin, USDP, NKVD, trade, currency valuables

he socio-economic1 conditions of the Return from Oblivion TSoviet Union in the early 1930s demanded authorities to search for alternative sources of For decades, Soviet leaders suppressed the currency revenues that would facilitate the fact that there was mass famine in Ukraine in industrialization of the country along with 1932 and 1933, while the agenda subject to a the export revenues, gold extraction, and the certain taboo. A similar approach was typical expropriation of valuables by the institutions of for other issues directly or indirectly related the Unified State Political Directorate (USPD) to the tragic events. The range of unwanted and the People’s Commissariat of Internal and literally forbidden subjects also included Affairs (NKVD) after 10 July 1934. These the Torgsin. Its annual foreign currency plans, sources were found by creating a Special Office sales plans, reports on incoming valuables, for Trade with Foreigners on the Territory of the explanatory notes to them, directives on USSR, broadly known under the abbreviation organizing the purchasing of valuables had of “Torgsin.” State leaders expected it to best been on the classified documents’ storage. perform by “summoning” gold, silver, platina, The category ‘not to publish’ included its jewels, and foreign currency from the citizens’ quarterly and monthly foreign currency plans, households. Confidence in its success was sales plans and plans to transfer the Torgsin boosted by factors such as starvation, the short goods to people’s commissariats or specific supply of basic food products (flour, bread), organizations, letters on the purchase of the introduction of a rationing system, the antique items or jewelry. Even the Ukrainian openness of the network stores to all groups Republican Exports Council was debriefed on of the population irrespective of their social the Office’s performance separately from other background. organizations, during the closed sessions.2 The

1 The article was written with the support 2 State Archive of the Dnipropetrovsk of the Holodomor Research and Education Region, coll. Р-1822, descr. 1, file 5, page 35, Consortium (Canadian institute of Ukrainian 42; State Archive of Chernihiv Region, coll. Studies, University of Alberta).

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mark “not to publish” can be also found on the publications mentioning Torgsin significantly news bulletin of the Board of the Foreign Trade increased. Thus, “The State Journal” (Lansing, Combine Torgsin (F/C “Torgsin”) entitled Michigan) of 15 January 1932 informed “Torgsinovets” (Torgsiner).3 The duty to about the transformation of Torgsin stores familiarize the staff with the materials printed into profitable modern entities located in therein was on the store managers.4 different parts of the country. They provided Western and American scholars, particularly the authorities access to household gold and experts in Soviet industrialization, knew also were places where foreigners could little about the Combine. The first records buy the goods they needed “at reasonable came out in periodicals. Foreign journalists prices.”7 From March to June 1933, the British and travelers informed their readers about “Manchester Guardian” and “Morning Post” Moscow’s exceptional interest in having published a series of reports by Malcolm foreign currency paid for the goods. One of Muggeridge who managed to visit the North the first notices about Torgsin was printed in Caucasus and Ukraine. He described stores the US newspaper “Reno Evening Gazette” where people could exchange their precious (Reno, Nevada). In the issue, dated 3 August metals or foreign currency for butter, sugar, 1931, there is an article by Stanley Richardson fruits, and tea. The author warned that visiting who stated that the network stores offered to such points of sale was not safe since there was foreign citizens a wide range of products of a high risk of being arrested by USPD officers.8 much higher quality than Soviet citizens could The awareness of the Torgsin among foreign purchase in regular stores.5 His colleague citizens is also confirmed by memoirs and Charles Driscoll claimed that some of the works of publicists. Such pieces of writing major goods on offer at the sales points of the were authored by renowned politicians, organization were church valuables (chalices, diplomats, and experts who were visiting crucifixes, cross pendants, icons, priests attire) the USSR or used to work in the country, but and the articles that used to belong to the Tsar not by professional historians. The American family and their network.6 chemist Alcan Hirsch became interested in Between 1932 and 1933, the number of whether Soviet citizens had any access to the points of sale of the network. He described to Р-2063, descr. 1, file 324, page 4. his readers the conduct of visitors to Torgsin 3 The Torgsinovets newspaper was published by the printing house of the State Bank stores, the procedure of buying valuables, of the Soviet Union since 15 August 1933, with and listed the goods offered on sale there.9 a total circulation of 1500 copies, twice a month. The newspaper articles raised some general issues The German journalist and publicist Erich regarding the functioning of the points of sale; they listed recommendations and uncovered Wollenberg analyzed the status of Soviet deficiencies in the network’s operations. A heading Roubles and described the different types. “On the Grounds” included reports from regional correspondents (activists and members of editorial Among them he mentioned the “Torgsin boards of the stores’ wallpapers), which were a valuable source for studying the local peculiarities of Torgsin operations. 7 “Soviets now have improved stores,” The 4 State Archive of Sumy Region, coll. Р-1629, State Journal, 15 January 1932. descr. 1, file 27, page 109. 8 Malcolm Muggeridge, “Russia revealed,” The 5 Stanley P. Richardson, “Tourist trade is So- Morning Post, 5 June 1933. viet’s aim,” Reno Evening Gazette, August 3, 1931, 6. 9 Alcan Hirsch, Industrialized Russia (New 6 Charles B. Driscoll, “The World and All,” York: The chemical catalog company, Inc., 1934), The State Journal, October 2, 1931, 6. 181.

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Rouble” as a “preferential” type.10 and the regular transfers drew the attention Between the 1950s and 1970s, Western and of the USPD officers. The risk for the visitors American researchers (Frederick Schuman,11 increased even more when the National John Martin,12 Alec Nove,13 Mikhail Socialists came to power in Germany. Condoide14) did not reveal any special interest Since the mid-1950s, some sporadic references in Torgsin, and only randomly mentioned to Torgsin can be found in the works of it in the context of their scholarly research. Ukrainian diaspora activists. They were The relations of the network and the USPD primarily works addressing the repressive are rarely mentioned in their works. Thus, in nature of the Communist Soviet system. In 1955, 1959, the organization was only mentioned in Pavlo Liutarevych published in “Ukrayinskyi the report of the Committee on Un-American Zbirnyk” (Ukrainian Collection) numbers and Activities in the House of Representatives. facts on the famine in Ukraine in 1932 and The authors of the report focused primarily 1933. The author highlighted the Torgsin as on the cooperation between US companies one of the ways to save people from starvation. and the Soviet Intourist and the All-Union The Torgsin gastronomic stores had “anything Combine of Torgsin that could serve as a but for bird milk” in stock.17 This kind of way cover for spies.15 More details can be found in out, according to Liutarevych, put visitors at the memoirs of former high-ranking western risk of facing problems with the SPD in the officials, employees, and journalists. For future. In 1958, with the support of foreign example, the German diplomat Andor Hencke detachments of the Organization of Ukrainian who served as a consul in Kyiv from 1933 to Nationalists, a monograph by Andriy 1935 mentioned Torgsin when writing about Mykulyn was published about concentration assistance received from German charities camps. The author briefly outlined the issue (“Aid to the Brothers in Distress,” a.o.). He of Torgsin in the context of punishing citizens claimed that the Soviet Union felt a huge for “antirevolutionary relations with foreign deficit of foreign currency. That is why they countries.” The researcher claimed that banks easily accepted donations from other countries registered all persons’ valuables, and further for the German colonists.16 Large amounts submitted the lists to local units of18 SPD. To commemorate the 40th anniversary of 10 Erich Wollenberg, “Wages and Prices in the Holodomor of 1932–1933, the Ukrainian the Soviet Union,” The New International 3 (1936): 70-2. Diaspora intensified their efforts in Western 11 Frederick L. Schuman, Russia since 1917: European and American media where they Four decades of Soviet politics (New York: Knopf, 1957). started publishing memories of eyewitnesses. 12 John S. Martin, A picture history of Russia (New York: Crown Publishers, 1956). Let us quote an article by Ivan Chynchenko 13 Alec Nove, An Economic History of the who gives a detailed account of a story by USSR (London: The Penguin Press, 1969). 14 Mikhail V. Condoide, Russian-American Anastazia Tzymbaliuk about how she lost the trade, a study of the Soviet foreign-trade monopoly silver candle-holders, golden rings, signets, (Columbus, Ohio: The Ohio state university, 1946). 15 “The Communist parcel operation. Report by the Committee on Un-American Activities of the Ukrain. Freie Univ., 1979), 16. House of Representatives,” in Eighty-sixth Congress, 17 Pavlo Liutarevych, “Tsyfry i fakty pro first session, September 25, 1959 (Washington: United holod v Ukraini (roky 1932–1933),” Ukrayinskyi States Government printing office, 1959), 3-5. Zbirnyk (Miunkhen) 2 (1955): 80-94. 16 Andor Hencke, Erinnerungen als Deutscher 18 Andriy Mykulyn, Kontsentratsiini tabory v Konsul in Kiew in den Jahren 1933–1936 (München: Sovietskomu Soiuzi (b. m., 1958).

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bracelets, and coins via Torgsin, and also about Among foreign researchers, the first one to the persecutions of her husband and her by study relations between Torgsin and USPD NKVD officers.19 was Osokina. For her, the network was a Soviet historiography tried to avoid any peculiar phenomenon of the 1930s, an island mentions of Torgsin. Its special status and the of market (state) entrepreneurship in the peculiarity of its operations for many years ocean of the planned economy, an institution remained out of the scope of the research where all customers were socially equal.25 The of historians and economists. Between the problems were also mentioned in the works 1950s and 1970s the latter ones (Oleksandr of Russian historians Iryna Pavlova26 and Husakov, Yosyp Dymshyts,20 Zakhariy Hanna Semenova.27 Western European and Atlas,21 Lazar Frey22) emphasized the fact that American scholars such as Robert Service,28 establishment of the network was a forced Marjorie Hilton,29 Sheila Fitzpatrick,30 Sarah step, even though well-justified. The problems Davies also focused specifically on Torgsin.31 of co-existence of the network and the Among the local historians, in addition to the USPD was not a subject of research for obvious abovementioned Marochko, the peculiarities reasons. of co-existence of Torgsin and USPD were A crucially new stage in researching the described by Oleksandr Slonevskyi,32 Torgsin began after the collapse of the Soviet Volodymyr ymonenko, Stepan Martseniuk,33 Union. In 1995, the journal “Otechestvennaya istoriya” (National History) published the first 25 Elena Osokina, “Sovetskaya zhizn: oby- specialized academic article on the etwork. dennost ispyitaniya (na primere istorii Torgsina i OGPU)” Otechestvennaya istoriya 2 (2004): 113-24; It was authored by the Russian researcher Elena Osokina, “Dollaryi dlya industrializatsii. Olena Osokina.23 The first regional study of Valyutnyie operatsii v 1930-e godyi” Rodina 3 (2004): 76-81; Elena Osokina, “Sovetskaya povsednevnost: the social history of the organization was obyidennost priklyucheniya, privyichnost riska. Na primere Torgsina i OGPU,” u Sotsialnaya istoriya: conducted in 2002 by the Ukrainian historian ezhegodnik, 2007 (Moskva: ROSSPEN, 2008), 87-102. Vasyl Marochko.24 Since then, Torgsin-related 26 Irina Pavlova, “Torgsinyi v Zapadno- Sibirskom krae,” Ekonomika i organizatsiya 3 (2003): subjects started to come out of the shadow of 162-9. more global studies on the social economic 27 Anna Semenova, “Deyatelnost Vyatskogo otdeleniya Vsesoyuznogo ob’edineniya “Torgsin“ history of the Soviet Union, and evolved into a (1932–1936 gg.),” Vestnik Vyatskogo gosudarstvennogo separate strand of research. gumanitarnogo universiteta 4 (2010): 35-9. 28 Robert Service, A History of Modern Russia, from Nicholas II to Putin (Harvard University Press, 19 Ivan Chynchenko, “Vtrachene zoloto,” 2005). u Kalendar-almanakh “Novoho shliakhu“ na 1974 rik 29 Marjorie L. Hilton, Selling to the Masses: (Vinnipeh: Novyi shliakh, 1974), 137-44. Retailing in Russia, 1880–1930 (University of 20 Aleksandr Gusakov, Iosif Dyimshits, Denezhnoe Pittsburgh Press, 2011). obraschenie i kredit SSSR (Moskva: Gosfinizdat, 30 Sheila Fitspatrik, Povsednevnyiy stalinizm. 1951). Sotsialnaya istoriya Sovetskoy Rossii v 30-e godyi: 21 Zahariy Atlas, Sotsialisticheskaya denezhnaya gorod, per. s angl. L. Pantina (Moskva: ROSSPEN, sistema: Problemyi sotsialisticheskogo preobrazovaniya i 2008). razvitiya denezhnoy sistemyi SSSR (Moskva: Finansyi, 31 Sarah Rosemary Davies, Popular opinion in 1969). Stalin’s Russia: terror, propaganda and dissent, 1934– 22 Lazar Frey, Mezhdunarodnyie raschetyi i 1941 (Cambridge University Press, 1997). finansirovanie vneshney torgovli sotsialisticheskih stran 32 Oleksandr Slonevskyi, “Kinets Kamen- (Moskva: Mezhdunarodnyie otnosheniya, 1965). skoho ‘Torhsynu’,” Ekspedytsiia XXI, 6, 2011, 5. 23 Elena Osokina, “Za zerkalnoy dveryu Torgsina,” 33 Volodymyr Symonenko ta Stepan Martse- Otechestvennaya istoriya 2 (1995): 86-104. niuk, “Pid shalenym natyskom (Za materialamy 24 Vasyl Marochko, “Torhsyny: zolota tsina Derzharkhivu Chernihivskoi oblasti v m. Nizhy- zhyttia,” Personal 9 (2002): 21-3. ni),” Siverianskyi litopys 1 (1998): 110-2.

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Iryna Shcherbyna.34 A number of unknown from 1930 to 1936, i.e., from the moment earlier documents from the Sectoral State of establishment until the date of liquidation. Archive of the Security Service of Ukraine that cover relations between customers of the Kyiv From a Small Office to an All-Union Regional Office of Torgsin and the political Association authorities were made public by Vasyl Danylenko.35 The researchers also mention the Since the 1917 October Revolution, the topic of combating the so called “Hitler aid” confiscation of currency valuables from arriving in the network’s accounts. The tools citizens had been one of the key functions of and methods the USPD authorities used in the repressing bodies of the state. During the this regard are described in detail by Mykola first half of the 1920s, the USSR had amore Shytiuk.36 The topic was further developed or less legal currency market. It placed almost in the works of Yuriy Kotliar and Iryna no restrictions on Soviet citizens to buy and Mironova.37 sell gold or foreign currency. The situation Despite a number of works on the history of crucially changed with the start of forced Torgsin, the topic of its confrontation with industrialization. The collapse of the legal the Unified State Political Department, and foreign currency market made it impossible later with the People’s Commissariat for to make any transactions in foreign currency Internal Affairs is understudied. The objective without the involvement of the state. Instead, of this article is to define the role that the in a situation of inflation, only a few people USPD played in the operations of Torgsin, were willing to sell valuables to the state ‘at to identify major controversies between the a hard exchange rate.” In the first place, the organizations that enhanced the confrontation risk group included holders of the so called between them, to compare the efficiency of “effective” foreign currency,38 golden and their operations and the way it was perceived silver coins, or family jewelry. by common customers of the network. The weak economic stimuli were replaced Timewise, the research covers the period by forced acts of the USPD, with arrests, searches, confiscations, and shootings, as the 34 Iryna Shcherbyna, “Torhsin yak zasib vyzhyvannia “novoi burzhuazii” v umovakh criminal investigation authorities and militia likvidatsii nepu,” Naukovo-praktychna konferentsiia transferred to them all “foreign currency” naukovo-pedahohichnykh pratsivnykiv, naukovtsiv, aspirantiv ta spivrobitnykiv akademii (45-a, Kharkiv) infringement cases of the “money-changers.” Ch. 5 (2012): 16. On 20 September 1931, the Economic Board 35 Vasyl Danylenko, “Rozkradannia produktiv ta promtovariv hosporhanamy ta of USPD issued a circular note No 404 that systemoiu Torhsynu,” v Natsionalna knyha pamiati zhertv holodomoru 1932–1933 rokiv v Ukraini: misto authorized the expropriation of golden and Kyiv, vidp. red. Vasyl Marochko (Kyiv: Feniks, silver household goods. The Board officers 2008), 66-73. 36 Mykola Shytiuk, “Nimetska hromada immediately made use of it. Their “actions” pivdnia Ukrainy v period masovykh represii 20–40- on mass expropriation of foreign currency kh rr. XX stolittia,” u Nimetski poselentsi v Ukraini: istoriia ta sohodennia (Kyiv; Mykolaiv: Vydavnytstvo MDHU imeni Petra Mohyly, 2006), 353-69. 38 In official documents from the period, 37 Yuriy Kotliar ta Iryna Mironova, Karbovanets, despite their inconvertibility, were Holodomory 1921–1923 rr. ta 1932–1933 rr. na Pivdni referred to as Soviet currency. It might have been Ukrainy: etnichnyi ta mizhnarodnyi aspekty (Kyiv; done in order not to lead to confusion about the Mykolaiv: Vydavnytstvo MDHU imeni Petra currency in question; the financial agencies called Mohyly, 2008). the foreign currency ‘effective’ currency.

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valuables largely scared people. In September crossing points.41 1932, the Economic Board of the USPD had In November, 1930, Torgsin opened its first to introduce a series of clarifications to the “closed type” universal department store circular note in which they had to explicate located in Moscow, at the corner of Petrovka that the deprivation of household valuables and Kuznetskyi bridge. Early next year, was allowed only when their amount “had the centers of the Office were established a commodity speculative nature.” However, outside the capital city, primarily in big such clarifications could not have any crucial cities. The expansion of the trade chain of impact on the situation. USPD continued Torgsin stores required the organization to the practices of mass operations for the change its status. On 4 January 1931, Torgsin expropriation of foreign currency.39 became the All-Union Association of the The monopoly of the political administration People’s Commissariat of Foreign Trade on the control over the turnover of currency (Narkomvneshtorg).42 The Provisions on and valuables in the country was shattered Torgsin UA stipulated that the retail trade with on 18 July 1930. On that day, they established foreigners in the USSR became its monopoly a ‘Special Office for Trade with Foreigners right, while representative offices would be on the Territory of the Soviet Union.” It was soon established in all republics, lands, and supposed to concentrate within their authority regions of the Soviet Union.43 all foreign currency sales transactions First, the USPD did not sense any threat with foreigners within the Soviet Union. from Torgsin, even though they protested They started operating with the port trade against its establishment. In summer 1931, (ship chandlery).40 In October, 1930, Torgsin rumors started spreading all over the country obtained the right from the joint-stock society about change of focus of the Association, of the Soviet trade fleet (Sovtorgflot) to service while services to foreigners shifted to Soviet foreign vessels and sailors in Soviet ports, citizens. An American chemist Alkan Hirsch while the first customers were foreign tourists recalled that people were looking forward to and foreign transit passengers invited to visit the moment when the door of Torgsin opened the kiosks in the Intourist hotels in Moscow for them, and they could use those “small and Leningrad, or the sales sets at the border comforts.”44 The seminal decision that was life-changing for many was adopted by the People’s Commissariat for Finance of USSR 39 Elena Osokina, Zoloto dlya industrializatsii: on 14 June 1931. Since then, Soviet citizens, “Torgsin” (Moskva: ROSSPEN, 2009), 38. 40 After a foreign vessel arrived at a on par with foreigners, were granted the Soviet port, the Torgsin ship chandler boarded the vessel, and offered to the captain to place an right to shop for commodities in the stores order to replenish the stock of supplies, fuel, and of the network in exchange for old golden construction materials. They tried to interest the captain with the promise to pay the reward in the coins. However, it was only the beginning. amount of several percent of the order figure, which was an overt bribe. The ship chandler informed the sailors that a Torgsin bar or a restaurant operated in 41 Vasyl Marochko, Holodomor 1932–1933 the port, as well as a shop with souvenirs, antiques, rokiv na Donbasi (Kyiv: Instytut istorii Ukrainy fur, and other commodities. The USPD prohibited NAN Ukrainy, 2015), 57. foreign sailors from taking along the foreign 42 Osokina, Zoloto dlya industrializatsii, 19. currency in cash ashore. They were given Torgsin 43 State Archive of Mykolayiv oblast’, bonds that could only be received in the Torgsin coll. Р-1358, descr. 1, file 2, page 105-6. stores. 44 Hirsch, Industrialized Russia, 180.

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In May 1931, the director of the Moscow actively debated. Thus, in spring, 1932, the universal department store No. 1, Yefrem abovementioned Odessa Torgsin Regional Kurland, suggested exchanging Torgsin Office replied to a claim about continuous goods for gold for household usage. The fluctuations of prices for this precious metal on deputy chairman of the Board of the Torgsin the international arena: UA, Mykhaylo Azovskyi, spoke in Smolensk in front of the store managers and stated: ...we buy it [silver – M. H.] here at a price we set at our discretion, while in exchange for it, we offer Nowadays, comrades, suppose we take household our goods at a price higher than the price levels on gold. Even if we take one gram, one tenth of a gram foreign markets.48 per capita, what does it imply with a population of 160 million?45 Therefore, this exchange was profitable at any unfavorable market conditions. The Indeed, it implied that the government decided permit for transactions with the household to requisition from the population the family silver and pre-revolutionary silver coins had valuables they failed to hide in hideouts from could not be issued until 25 November 1932, the USPD, and were not willing to give away when the Communist Politburo adopted to the state. the respective resolution.49 It must be noted On 3 November 1931, the Political Bureau that the organization’s employees were of Central Committee of the All-Union recommended not to rush into enforcing it. It Communist Party of Bolsheviks (Communist mostly concerned the regions or settlements Politburo) assigned the People’s Commissariat where high rates of gold inflows were for Foreign Trade of the USSR to organize recorded.50 in the Torgsin stores the “mobilization” At the height of the transactions with gold of household gold in exchange for food and silver, the Narkomvneshtorg started products and other goods. The official permit discussing the possibility for Torgsin to accept therefore came later, on December, 10, diamonds. Citizens were actively bringing when the Council of People’s Commissars State Archive), coll. Р-1241, descr. 1, file 3, page 30. of the USSR adopted the Resolution “On 48 Odessa State Archive, coll. Р-1241, descr. 1, Granting to the All-Union Association Torgsin file 3, page. 30. 49 Torgsin was forbidden from accepting the Right to Do Transactions to Purchase silver Soviet coins. In order to bypass the ban, Precious Metals (Gold).”46 people resorted to such practices as melting them into bullions, or they molded them into simple The administration of the Odessa Torgsin bijouterie. In April 1933, The People’s Commissariat for Finance of the USSR and the State Bank issued Regional Office went even further. In July a secret form to warn the stores against buying up 1931, they advised the Board of the All-Union silver bullions with manifest signs of being melted from the Soviet coins. It led to a drop in the rates Association to grant a permit for transactions of fulfilling the foreign currency plans, since the to buy a much wider range of valuables, specific weight of bullions in the proceeds was 15 %. Central State Archive of Supreme Governing such as silver, platina, and even precious and Administrative Bodies of Ukraine, coll. 4051, stones.47 The issue of buying silver was descr. 1, file 137, page 63; Osokina, Zoloto dlya industrializatsii, 121. 50 Ruslan Pyrih, uporiad. Holodomor 1932– 45 Osokina, Zoloto dlya industrializatsii, 352. 1933 rokiv v Ukraini: dok. i materialy (Kyiv: Vydavnychyi 46 Ibid., 546. dim “Kyievo-Mohylianska akademiia’, 2007), 47 State Archive of Odessa Region (Odessa 412.

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them to the buy-up points as parts of jewelry In Pursuit of Valuables pieces. Since there was no official permit to ‘mobilize’ precious stones, the evaluators used In the first place, the newly established to accept them together with the golden ware organization went after valuables that people that contained them. The stones were not taken were hiding in the hideouts, such as rings, out of the jewelry, and were paid for at the rate earrings, cross pendants, household items of gold. No one confirmed their authenticity. made of precious metals, and precious stones. The efficiency of such transactions was Experts from the People’s Commissariat of the doubtful. On 10 May 1932, the deputy head Workers’ and Peasants’ Inspectorate stated of the Association Yulian Boshkovych noted the following: that the cost of most of the stones was lower than that of gold. Therefore, he recommended In the period of reconstructing our economy, when to chip them out or to adjust the total price we will still have to bring in various equipment of the jewelry downwards.51 The official from other countries, the mobilization of ‘effective’ permit to purchase the diamonds came in foreign currency within the country will play a August 1933.52 The diamonds were usually crucial role, the same as seizure of household golden set in platinic frames. That is why in October, ware that had lost both its household meaning 1933, the Narkomvneshtorg, as supported and significance as an item of jewelry ((wedding) by the State Bank, submitted to the Foreign rings, earrings, bracelets, cross pendants, etc.) in Exchange Commission of the Council of the holders’ hands – all of these have no longer People’s Commissars of the USSR the draft any user value, but the gold kept its value. That resolution on buying this precious metal is why it must be collected with the help of the from citizens, too. The People’s Commissariat Torgsin system and sent to serve the interests of for Finance considered this proposal as the proletarian state.54 relevant, even though they recommended to be limited to platinic items of household No less illustrative was the text of the reporting goods, in order to prevent the plundering notice ‘On the operations of Torgsin in Ukraine of the metal from state enterprises. Torgsin over the 10 months of 1932’ that stated: started to buy up platinum in 1934.53 Gold, silver, and diamonds had been accepted until ...in terms of its economic situation, Ukraine has 15 November 1935, whereas the sales of goods favorable conditions for broad-scale development of for oreign currency cash or by foreign currency operations to engage foreign currency and assets in transfers from abroad continued until the the form of household gold. In Ukraine, especially in moment of liquidation of the Association. The the south-west, there was a large-scale emigration official date of closing down the Torgsin was 1 during the Tsar period, while the people living February 1936. However, the redemption of the there maintain close relations with the emigrants, ration books continued until summer the same and receive big amounts of cash remittances.55 year. At the same time, people were cautious about the

51 Odessa State Archive, coll. Р-1241, 54 Central State Archive of Supreme descr. 1, file 3, page 76. Governing and Administrative Bodies of Ukraine, 52 Osokina, Zoloto dlya industrializatsii, 128. coll. 539, descr. 17, file 365, page 5. 53 Ibid., 129. 55 Ibid., coll. 4051, descr. 1, file 168, page 3 rev.

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authorities reassuring that there would be free keeping track of the Torgsin stores. In fact, both access to the system stores, and no persecutions agencies were fulfilling their foreign currency therefore. In November 1932, an inspector who plans at the expense of the same source, i.e. was in charge of establishing a Kyrgyz office of the savings of Soviet citizens. Some USPD Torgsin wrote from the city of Frunze (presently, agents tried to keep out of the visitors’ Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic): It was found out in the eyes. They followed the buyers, traced their conversation with the head of Economic Board of residence addresses, and subsequently SPD that the golden stock is huge with us, and conducted arrests, searches, confiscations, many are looking forward to opening the Torgsin, and made the ‘valuables holders’ to ‘willfully’ as they fear it might be confiscated by the due surrender the valuables to the state. The Soviet authorities.56 engineer Rifat Gizatulin recounted:

A British expert in Soviet economic history, In addition to fulfilling commercial tasks, the Alec Nove, stated that in the first half of the Torgsin also helped identify persons who were 1930s, there were several options of prices holding the valuables. As we can see, a visit or two for the same product in the USSR. They to the store brought the visitor to the attention of were determined by the retail, commercial the USPD, whereupon after some time, a car came stores, department stores for workers, and to the prospective fortune holder’s house, and the Torgsin.57 In this way, the government some dispassionate people took him away to their basically legalized the use of foreign currency premises... and ‘worked’ on him until he reveled all along with the Soviet bills, thus allowing the secret hideouts with the gold.58 their free circulation within one controlled organization. The USPD only had to deal Over the years of functioning of USPD, people with the borderlands where Torgsin was not have developed a subconscious fear of the operating, and with the auxiliary functions Commissariat and its officers. They were in organizing trade, such as to report on apprehensive of anyone wearing a military the foreign currency capacity in the region; uniform or acting suspiciously. The director of to select, approve, and check the Torgsin Vyatka department store No. 3, Beloborodov, staff (mostly candidates for directors of emphasized the following in his letter to the offices and the store managers); to provide authorities of NKVD: for security during transportation of valuables to Moscow; to influence the Please, warn all your staff and the militia personnel suppliers; to search for persons receiving that they must come to Torgsin stores not in foreign cash remittances if they were staying a military uniform, but in civilian clothing. It in detention facilities; and to combat theft is necessary in order not to disturb the trust of within the system. citizens.59 In autumn 1931, the first complaints were recorded from visitors to Torgsin about the This address was fully in line with the order illegal acts of the USPD, whose agents were 58 Rifat Gizatulin, Nas byilo mnogo na chelne: Dokum. povestvovanie (Moskva: Izd. avtora, 1993), 56 Osokina, Zoloto dlya industrializatsii, 56. 15-6. 57 Alec Nove, An Economic History of the 59 Semenova, “Deyatelnost Vyatskogo USSR (London: The Penguin Press, 1969), 203-204. otdeleniya,” 38.

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of the USPD No. 00325 “On Discipline in the Odessa. Two officers of the SPD border unit 26 USPD Bodies and Troops,” dated 23 September ran into our store, all in arms, and arrested an 1933, which stated the following: unknown citizen in the store.62

Numerous facts noted recently imply the cases of Visitors, primarily villagers, who observed the violating discipline, while in some cases there is pattern of work of the political administration absolutely no discipline among the public security staff, did not dare to go to the Torgsin stores. officers. Lack of discipline starts with such signs They came back home, and told the stories of as untidy appearance, neglectful uniform wearing, what they had seen to their fellow villagers, excessive drinking, and loose conduct, which thus encouraging false impressions of Torgsin. would inevitably lead to lower performance of In 1932, the director of the Pskov unit of the every public security officer, and also to dulling Leningrad office of Torgsin reported the the energy and attention in combatting the following: “...customers from remote areas do counterrevolutionary elements.60 not come for fear of repression,” while the staff of the association from Tashkent informed Some USPD agents, despite any guidelines, about the attempts of holders of valuables ran into the stores in their military uniforms, to conceal their names and real residence and with guns, dispersed the visitors, and addresses.63 Attending Torgsin had become publicly arrested the customers. They a risky venture for people, with no security deliberately ignored the fact that people guarantee. Customers covered long distances purchased the goods in the Torgsin stores to the neighboring district or city not to be officially, they had due invoices and receipts recognized by anyone, and whenever they thereon.61 The Chairman of the Torgsin Board, came across somebody they might know, they Artur Stashevskyi, filed a reporting note to would immediately leave the store. the People’s Commissar for Trade of USSR Specific cases when customers lost their Arkadiy Rozengoltz in December, 1932, where valuables or goods were reported by the he complained about the following: managers of the Torgsin stores from different parts of the Soviet Union. On 8 June 1932, On 27 August 1932, an officer of the Kyiv Regional the State Political Department of the Militia, comrade Beigul Semen Heorhiyovych, Ukrainian SSR received a complaint against came into our store No. 3 in Kyiv and immediately the acts of financial agents who seized the conducted a personal search of our customers in receipts from customers of the Kharkiv the store office, and stopped only after the insistent Torgsin store No. 3 that they had received demands of the store manager... In Voznesensk, for the household gold and golden coins bakers, in the number of 9 persons, gave out they handed over. Upon visiting a point of to Torgsin 2’000 rubles in foreign currency, sales after one such ‘campaign’ of USPD, the and were further arrested by the SPD for this... head of the local regional office of Torgsin, Fadey Zazulynskyi, stated: “there is no one 60 Oleg Smyislov, General Abakumov. Palach in the store, there were five people at the ili zhertva? (Moskva: Veche, 2012), 67. 61 Vasyl Danylenko, vidp. uporiad., counter, while others left.” He demanded Holodomor 1932–1933 rr. v Ukraini za dokumentamy HDA SBU: anotovanyi dovidnyk (Lviv: Tsentr 62 Osokina, Zoloto dlya industrializatsii, 210. doslidzhen vyzvolnoho rukhu, 2010), 91 ta 96-7. 63 Ibid., 210.

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the financial department to return the revenues receipts to Torgsin from 700 down to documents they seized from the customers. 100 dollars, the same acts on March 25, 1934 in First, the officials of the agency rejected the Chernihiv department store left the store any accusations of being involved in the without any proceeds at all.67 ‘robbery’ and put the blame on the unknown On 13 February 1935, a manager of the Nizhyn hooligans, but later they did admit their fault. Torgsin store (Chernihiv region) complained Besides, the manager of the local Torgsin about the actions of militia. According to his store communicated that the financial report, on February 6, a plainclothes militia department officers were not above the man came to the store and attempted to detain chance to come to his store to redeem the a woman who had just bought some goods. receipts they seized from the customers.64 When she refused, he applied force. The store Despite the complaints, the illegal acts against manager tried to protect the customer, and the Torgsin customers did not stop. On 15 after long argument he made the militiaman June 1932, the financial agents detained leave the facility. After several minutes, a the customers trying to buy peas in a local supervisor of the local market burst into store, and seized from them a receipt for the store and accused the administration of 20 Karbovanets in gold and 360 Karbovanets hiding the profiteers. The scandal could only in Soviet bills, and repeatedly “caused panic be successfully straightened out after the among the customers.”65 In his report account arrival of the militia head who promised to see dated 13 December 1932 , The store manager into the matter and do his best to never let it of the Kyiv Torgsin store, Polinovskyi, stated happen again.68 that: Despite the promises of the Torgsin administration, the customers of the stores [...] some unidentified citizens approached the or buy-up points for valuables did not feel store, they stopped a customer leaving the store safe. In April, 1935, the receiving evaluator of and ordered to him to follow them. The customer Chernihiv store No. 2, Danylovskyi, received gave the flour to his wife, next to him, and followed almost 378 g of silver and began asking a them. At this time, a long queue was waiting in customer inquisitively about the origin of the the street, and I noticed that the crowd started to precious metal. He then seized the valuables panic and that nobody stayed in the store or near with no due execution of documents. This the store.66 time, the store administration promptly responded to the abuse of power and As a result, the points of sale of the system later dismissed him from the position.69 started suffering significant shortfalls in The nuns of Moscow nunnery who tried profits. Thus, whereas in November 1931, to hand over to Torgsin two large silver the campaign of Kherson USPD against the chalices suffered a much worse fate and exchangers resulted in the reduction of daily were detained by the local criminal militia.

64 State archive of Kharkiv Region (Kharkiv 67 Chernihiv State Archive, coll. Р-1369, State Archive), coll. Р-4640, descr. 13, file 3, descr. 1, file 172, page 62; Osokina, Zoloto dlya page 84. industrializatsii, 216. 65 Kharkiv State Archive, coll. Р-4640, 68 Chernihiv State Archive, coll. Р-1369, descr. 13, file 3, page 80–81. descr. 1, file 112, page 3–4. 66 Osokina, Zoloto dlya industrializatsii, 210. 69 Ibid., file 110, page 33.

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The nun Hanna Korchaskina admitted at the not to wear the uniform.72 interrogation: The role of the USPD staff was sometimes We have never thought the Soviet authorities would assumed by usual swindlers. The head of the stay for long, that is why one of my nun sisters Moscow City Torgsin Office, in his letter to the and me, we hid all the church valuables from the store managers, warned them: nunnery we managed to find until the change of Lately, a gang of swindlers have been operating regime. around our points of sale. They are disguises as officers of the State Political Department or When searching the suspect’s apartment, the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department, NKVD investigators found two silver icons, and in advance choose a victim among customers over 40 pounds in weight, silver candleholders, who hand over valuables or buy goods, and after incense-burners, and chalices.70 customers leave the store, they stop them and pillage the valuables.”73 The “Subsidiary Facility” of the USPD The subconscious fear of the USPD, with their The Torgsin administration were trying to punitive actions, can be felt in many memories avoid the image of a “subsidiary facility” of eye-witnesses. The American reporter of USPD, even though it was hard to resist. William Reswick recollects that some of his Rumors spread around the country at a fast friends and acquaintances in the Soviet Union speed that the system “was established to “would rather starve than go to those stores assist the USPD” and that it was a “trap for under the intent eye of the spies.”74 A resident persons handing over the gold.”71 One of the of the village of Pivnivshchyna, of Horodnia countermeasures of Torgsin to overcome this district, Chernihiv region, Kostiantyn Bovtun image was the recommendation to the System (b. 1924) recounts: staff to avoid military uniforms at work. On 21 November 1932, the head of the Kharkiv In spring 1933, we were putting things in order in regional office ofTorgsin received a notification the garden... My sister came across a golden coin. that read: My mother was very weak and also scared by all of the things that had happened before. So she told The head of Symu branch who was wearing a us not to keep the coin and to throw it away. But military uniform attended the meeting of heads during the night she came to senses and realized of Torgsin stores in the Kharkiv region. We are it was our only chance not to die of hunger and informed that he is also wearing the uniform that we did need the coin. In the morning, we went in the store. We consider it inadmissible, as it back there and were looking for it until we found has a negative effect on the customers of the it. The coin turned out to have a value of ten gold Sumy branch who are always rather cautious chervinets (during times of starvation it was big to any such signs. We thereby oblige everyone money). My mother took the coin to Torgsin to

72 Kharkiv State Archive, coll. Р-4640, descr. 13, file 3, page 47 and the reverse. 70 “Nun Uncovers Old Treasure,” Arizona 73 Osokina, Zoloto dlya industrializatsii, 224. Republic, May 17, 1935, 2. 74 William Reswick, I dreamt revolution 71 Osokina, Zoloto dlya industrializatsii, 215. (Chicago: Henry regnery company, 1952), 309.

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exchange it for four sacks of potatoes. This is how they received data about persons who were we survived.75 bringing gold in there frequently. They were summoned to the State Political Department The lack of any systemic approach in the acts and required to willfully give away the gold. of USPD enhanced concerns among citizens Otherwise, torture was applied.”77 Anastazia who tried to find the answer to a question Tzymbaliuk left a rather detailed story about why some customers were arrested by the her experience of interacting with the NKVD Department, while others were not. In this officers: respect, the Russian researcher Osokina provides text from a letter of one of the party One day, I went to the store with a small golden members: five coin and I bought everything we needed. I could hardly carry it back home. And it was the As far as I can assume, the people who were being end of it. During the night, two intruders came in, arrested where probably those who held the gold, in their crimson caps and with crimson lapels, and former merchants, dealers, profiteers, looters, they searched the house. Well, what kind of search former officials of the old regime, police and it was. They just kicked here, and peeped there, misers, but not the working elements, obviously, and that was it. They knew there was nothing to not the proletarian stratum and the middle class, search for. I would not complain that they were not not the poor men who truly need to hand over the gentle. They did not yell, hit, or make threats. Not gold to Torgsin, if they have any, with no fear or at all, God forbid. They were polite and delicate. apprehension.76 They just threw around everything and did not put things back in order. And they prohibited me from Such impressions were false, as the cleaning. System emphasized social equality in their – We must take your husband away with us, - one announcements. In other words, they were of them said. ready to welcome anyone holding hard ...Early next morning I went to NKVD and currency. asked about my husband. They all shrugged their The USPD officers managed very soon to see shoulders and knew nothing. A week passed, then in Torgsin not only a competitor, but also a two weeks, and there was no news from or about valuable source of information about the jewel my husband.78 holders. They fished out from the System staff the names of customers who were actively During the third week after disappearance bringing in jewels or hard currency. A resident of her husband, a woman was summoned to of the town of Nizhyn (Chernihiv region) the NKVD officer who started questioning Khaya Yevzerova recollected: “At that time, the “how much gold they had” and compared staff of the Nizhyn State Political Department the received testimony to the husband’s story. were trying to take away as much gold from Later, her house was visited by the NKVD people as possible. Through the Torgsin stores, staff for the second time. The officers’ trophy

75 L. Kusa, uporiad., Spohadiv bil nevhasymyi: Svidchennia pro holod 1932–1933 rr. (Shchors: 77 Viktor Emelyanov, Kollektivizatsiya na Shchorska tsentralna biblioteka im. 40-richchia Nezhin-schine (Hronika sobyitiy) (Nezhin, 2001), 111. Peremohy, 2008), 69. 78 Chynchenko, “Vtrachene zoloto,” 139- 76 Osokina, Zoloto dlya industrializatsii, 219. 140.

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were five gold bars and three gold coins. The Torgsin was the intelligence service of the State lady made an important comment that not all Political Department. They were disguised as seized valuables were documented: customers and listened carefully to every person, and later started inviting them to their room No. 4 I read it over (they had it all prepared in advance). to compulsorily hand over gold. Those who handed All was very clear and distinct; month, date, our it over were required to give a hand-written note first names, last names... But, wait, what is that? that such-and-such handed over the gold ‘willfully “Appropriated out to the ownership of the state – for state profit.” Those who refused to hand it over two bars of gold... as to the other three bars and were put into the cellar, fed with herring, and the golden fives, nothing was mentioned.” Wait, are offered no water. They also heated up the stove, so you taking away only two bars of gold, and leave that the person would lose his or her mind from the the three to us? – I asked happily. heat. Then they would also put out a cup of water – Not really, - one of them smiled. – We are taking as soon as they could, so that the person could see it away all the five bars, but we give you the document but not reach and drink it. Many of those who came only for the two. Maybe you are not willing to sign back home would fall down on the bed sick and it? If you don’t like it, we will again take away your could never get up again, taking away to the grave husband, and later… maybe, we also ‘invite’ you.79 the secrets of ‘courteous’ handling by the SPD that the survivors were forbidden to tell about.82 Mass arrests of the customers to the stores were recorded all over the Soviet Union. In On 14 September 1935, the Chairperson of the the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic alone, Torgsin Board, Mykhaylo Levenson, offered the arrests took place in Kyiv, Chernihiv, some explanations as to the lawfulness of Zaporizhia, Dnipropetrovsk, and Odessa in collecting data about the System customers December 1932.80 For example, the Chernihiv by the NKVD officers. He admitted that Unit of the State Political Department intently they were indeed authorized to do so, but demanded hard currency contributions from he recommended it be done via the store the currency holders, claiming that since they managers and to not ask the cashiers and scare had some currency for Torgsin, they should off customers.83 The response of the Torgsin have some for them too.81 The methods the administration was belated, while the System political department officers used were far was its final months. from humane. What happened upon the arrest The USPD expressed interest in the Torgsin of a prospective valuables holder is described property, mostly in the vehicles. On 26 May in a diary by a resident of the town of Pryluky 1931, a complaint arrived addressed to the (Chernihiv region), Serhiy Sydorikov (b. 1896): deputy chairperson of the Board of the All- Union Association Torgsin, Vasyl Zhdanov. 79 Chynchenko, “Vtrachene zoloto,” 142-143. 80 Vasyl Marochko ta Olha Movchan, It came from the administration of the Holodomor 1932–1933 rokiv v Ukraini : khronika (Kyiv: Mykolaiv Office and expressed indignation Vyd. dim “Kyievo-Mohylianska akademiia,“ 2008), 173. about the resolution of the local Presidium of 81 Yurii Volosnyk, “Diialnist ‘Torhsynu’ ta nepmany Ukrainy: povsiakdenni vyprobuvannia pidpryiemtsiv v umovakh forsovanoi 82 Archive of the Security Service of Ukraine industrializatsii pershoi polovyny 1930-kh rokiv,” in Chernihiv oblast’, file 15149-П. Visnyk Kharkivskoho natsionalnoho universytetu imeni 83 Kharkiv State Archive, coll. Р-4640, V. N. Karazina. Seriia: Istoriia 47 (2013): 102. descr. 13, file 20, p. 60.

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the City Council about transferring the of USPD in the period of establishment Torgsin car into the full disposition of the of Torgsin could be written off as low SPD. The Torgsin personnel were denied the awareness on the grounds, its further actions right to use the vehicle to go out of the city, implied the deliberate ignoring of any and obliged to make the vehicle available resolutions or orders. immediately upon request of the Department who could take it away for an indefinite period Dangerous Help from Abroad without any prior notice. The only thing they managed to get from the Department was the The risk group included possible recipients promise not to use the Torgsin car without any of cash remittances from abroad. The special need.84 Chairperson of the Board of the All-Union The tension in the relations between the Association Torgsin, Stashevskyi, in his two organizations soon grew into open internal report to the People’s Commissar confrontation. The Association demanded for Foreign Trade of the USSR, Rozengoltz, the authorities to adopt a ban for USPD for in December 1932, informed about unlawful any anti-Torgsin acts. Instead, they only were arrests by local USPD authorities, criminal given the guidelines to restrict their operations. investigation services, and militia of the Thus, the Political Department recommended receivers of cash remittances from abroad.85 to their units to confiscate golden and The staff of the Political Department silver items only on the condition that the explained their acts by the impossibility to savings were “of manifestly exploitative obtain valuables and cash in a different way, nature,” and prohibited the depersonalization but this statement could not withstand any of the seized valuables. Early in 1932, the criticism as regards the confiscation of cash government obliged the USPD not to remittances. Foreigners deposited the money compromise the Torgsin with their raids. The directly into the organization’s accounts, i.e., administration of the Peoples’ Commissariat they were never verified, while all transactions for Trade that the Association was were sanctioned and even encouraged by the subordinate to held negotiations with the government. As authorized by the Soviet Economic Department of USPD. The key authorities, Torgsin organized an advertising outcomes of the negotiations provided the campaign in mass media and encouraged basis for a special circular letter. It clearly foreign citizens to send hard currency to their explicated that Torgsin had a lawful right to sell relatives and compatriots in the Soviet Union. goods for so called ‘effective’ hard currency. In a letter dated 29 March 1934, Alvina Khinas Similar explanations were sent to local offices informed Sweden: of the People’s Commissariat for Finance, State Bank, and the People’s Commissariat I must tell you that we received one pound sterling for Justice. However, these measures failed from Gothenburg. Yesterday, Jukhan went to to have any major effect. The number of Torgsin in Kakhovka [...] It was an Angel of God complaints about the operations of the who brought such a present to us for Easter.86 USPD kept increasing. While the actions

84 Mykolaiv State Archive, coll. Р-1358, 85 Osokina, Zoloto dlya industrializatsii, 209. descr. 1, file 1, p. 123. 86 Andrey Kotlyarchuk, V kuznitse

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The Board of the All-Union Association collectives or to general Soviet organizations Torgsin informed the government about (such as International Red Aid). In the worst case numerous letters where people asked whether scenarios, regular packages and money transfers it was safe to attend the sales points of the could entail some political ‘troubles’.89 system and to receive cash remittances there. In its turn, the administration of provincial The receivers of hard currency from stores notified potential customers about the abroad were primarily suspected of anti- nuances of Torgsin operations with the help of revolutionary activities or espionage. A story announcements where they reassured: of a gentry man and a former officer of the Tsar Army, Yevhen Solovyov, is very characteristic Rumors and talks that the persons handing over in this respect. On 3 November 1935, by golden and silver coins would be called to account resolution of the prosecutor of the town of are over-worrying lies with no grounds.87 Pryluky (Chernihiv region), he was placed in detention for “disseminating anti-Soviet The administration of the Association was not propaganda,” for connections with foreign too approving of such steps, as they could anti-revolutionary organizations in Latvia, indirectly confirm the threat for visitors at the Argentina, France, and for receiving monetary points of sales of the system. Such uncertainty aid from them. The investigators intently brought confusion and misunderstanding studied the circumstances of a cash remittance into the work of different foreign societies, to his name in the amount of 5 francs. The organizations, or committees who organized one-time remittance and small amount did assistance through the Torgsin offices. For not substantiate the accusation that Solovyov instance, in April 1934 the Committee for Aid had ties with foreign organizations, but he to the Starving People in Ukraine published did not manage to avoid the accusations of in an information weekly “Ukrainian Week” a anti-Soviet propaganda. The court found disproof of “false rumors claiming there were Solovyov guilty and sentenced him to seven no ways to send the aid to the starving people.” years in prison.90 Similar cases were recorded The Committee’s representatives confirmed all over the country. Leningrad office ofTorgsin that for four months they successfully received an appeal from a citizen R.Pinchuk transferred money and sent food packages who informed the following: to Soviet citizens through the System.88 However, on 17 June 1935 the same weekly On October, 3, this year [1932 – M. H.], at 2 periodical informed that German magazines a.m., my daughter, Ida Davydivna Pinchuk, was warned the readers against sending any arrested by 5th division of militia. The reason for the packages to the Soviet Union via Torgsin: arrest was the seizure of foreign currency. She does ... in villages, the receivers are forced to not have any hard currency, except for the money ‘enthusiastically’ surrender their packages to I received from America from my children, and all remittances are coming directly to your address, Stalina»: shvedskie kolonistyi Ukrainyi v totalitarnyih eksperimentah XX veka (Moskva: ROSSPEN, 2012), 89 “V nimetskykh chasopysakh...,” Ukrainskyi 115. tyzhden. Cherven 17, 1935, 4. 87 Osokina, Zoloto dlya industrializatsii, 215. 90 Archive of the Board of the Security 88 “Hetmanska Uprava... (Zahalna Service of Ukraine in Chernihiv Region, file 2017- khronika),” Ukrainskyi tyzhden, Kviten 2, 1934, 3. П, 102 pp.

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and also to the address of the State Bank... I hereby investigators of the SPD. Eventually, on petition the Torgsin Board to take measures to free 22 June 1934, the priest was arrested and my daughter. Otherwise I will have to refuse from banished to Central Asia.93 the money I receive from America.91 Monetary aid was also received by entire communities. In Germany, different The USPD did not deny that they forced organizations took care of it: people to surrender their hard currency for state profit. A circular letter No. 203 of the Aid to the Brothers in Distress, Fast and Economic Department of USPD, dated 26 Brilliant, Commission to Send Parcels to the February 1932 confirms the increase of arrests USSR, Central Committee of Germans of the of customers whom the cash remittances Black Sea Region, Union of Germans from were addressed to. It is obvious that the Abroad. On 19 December 1933, the authorized administration of the political department representative of SPD in the Rozdilna District tried to explain the actions of their staff at of the Odessa region, Petrovskyi, informed that the local level, obliging them to seize the all Germans of the village of Yeremeyivka, remittances only when there was irrefutable except for activists, “were receiving marks from evidence for the re-selling of hard currency Germany for which they can get products through (speculative activities), or when they arrested Torgsin and that is why they remain absent from the suspects at the moment they committed work.94 the infringements, but these measures did not have any effective pressure. In fact, if a Initially, Soviet authorities approved of such detainee ‘willfully’ agreed to give away the foreign currency proceeds, but in the end of hard currency to the USPD, the person was 1933, they changed their attitudes thereon. usually released.92 The reason for such a rapid shift of focus During the searches in the so called “former was aptly described by a German diplomat persons,” they often found the Torgsin Hencke who noted that the Soviet Union bonds. In the reports on the results of special needed hard currency, but at the same time, operations, they are mentioned on the they treated such aid as a “blow to the prestige same level as foreign currency, anti-Soviet of a socialist state.”95 In the reporting note by connections, and espionage, thus aggravating the secretary of the Central Committee of the the components of crime. For example, similar Communist Party of Bolsheviks of Ukraine, accusations were raised to the Roman Catholic Pavlo Postyshev to Josef Stalin, dated 3 priest Mykhaylo (Michael) Koeller from the June 1934, it was stated that with Adolf village of Speyer, not far from Mykolaiv. In Hitler coming to power in Germany, cash order to help his starving fellow villagers, he remittances of 5 to 10 marks started coming sent letters to the USA where he stated the to Soviet Union. “This sort of provocative addresses of the needy and handed out the 93 Nataliia Rublova, uporiad., “Vlada i food purchased in Torgsin for the received kostol v radianskii Ukraini, 1919–1937 rr.: Rymo- cash remittances, in the amount of 10 dollars. katolytska tserkva pid represyvnym tyskom totalitaryzmu,” Z arkhiviv VUChK−HPU−NKVD− His activities soon attracted attention of the KHB 2 (2003): 404-6. 94 Rublova, “Vlada i kostol,” 270. 91 Osokina, Zoloto dlya industrializatsii, 210. 95 Hencke, Erinnerungen als Deutscher Konsul, 92 Ibid., 213-214. 16.

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‘aid’ on the part of Fascists from Germany,” arrived in the Pulyny district of the then Kyiv - Postyshev stated, - “started acquiring region. Most of them were transferred directly an exceptionally large scale and covered via Torgsin. According to the estimates of the almost all our German areas.” Since autumn SPD, from April 1933 to April, 1934, almost 1933, hundreds of remittances were sent to 490 000 Karbovanets in gold were remitted the Kyiv, Odessa, Dnipropetrovsk regions to the addresses of German colonists residing and to the Donbass. At the same time, German in Odessa, Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk consulates in Kyiv and in Kharkiv organized regions, and in Moldova.99 On 31 March 1935, visits to the addresses of different persons from the Chairman of the Torgsin Board, Levenson, villages and collective farms with appeals for along with the administration of the State help. Similar recommendations were received Bank, made a strong-willed decision to return by people from the staff of local centers of all the cash remittances from organizations Torgsin. After the money arrived, the German coming from Germany and Switzerland after consulate in Kyiv organized visits to German 1 April100 It is no wonder that Soviet Germans villages where the consulate staff personally were not happy about this decision and asked handed out the “Hitler aid” (as they referred questions why Jews would receive American to it).96 dollars and no one was angry at them for that, The authorities, with the help of party while Germans were scolded for the marks.101 members, and the USPD staff tried to fight Either “willful” or forceful confiscation of against such cases. The Secretary of the hard currency remittances again revealed Central Committee, Lazar Kaganovich, the true nature of the Soviet authorities and suggested that at the local level they aimed for the USPD that did not always manage to the “willful” refusal of donations from abroad successfully combine the economic relevance to the benefit of International Red Aid,97 while of transactions and foreign policy priorities. the secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Bolsheviks of Ukraine, Crime and Punishment Postyshev, demanded a ban on trips of consuls to villages and arrested the disturbers USPD was directly engaged in the process (propagandists, correspondents, organizers of approving candidates for key positions of pleas to Hitler) for anti-revolutionary in Torgsin. On 2 February 1934, the deputy activities.98 The efficiency of the suggested chairman of the All-Union Association of measures was reduced to zero with a large Torgsin, Hryhoriy Moust, sent explanatory number of remittances. For example, during statements to the heads of republican, county, April 1934, alone, almost 3 000 remittances and regional offices regarding the provisions and guidelines on organizing the special 96 Aleksandr Yakovlev, red., Lubyanka. Stalin i VChK–GPU–OGPU–NKVD. Arhiv 99 Yakovlev, Lubyanka, 816-817. Stalina. Dokumentyi vyisshih organov partiynoy i 100 Kharkiv State Archive, coll. Р-4640, descr. 13, gosudarstvennoy vlasti. Yanvar 1922 – dekabr 1936 file 20, p. 28. (Moskva: MFD, 2003), 527. 101 Viktor Pichukov, “Sotsialnyiy obraz evreya 97 Andriy Kudryachenko, “Sotsialno- v crede selskih nemtsov BSSR mezhvoennogo politicheskie aspektyi Golodomora v Ukraine perioda” (Materialyi I Mezhdunarodnoy nauchnoy po svidetelstvam togdashnih nemetskih konferentsii Belorussko-evreyskiy dialog v kontekste diplomaticheskih uchrezhdeniy,” Personal 1 (2004): mirovoy kulturyi, Minsk, Aprel 28-30, 2008), 314, 23. http://elib.bsu.by/bitstream/123456789/23914/1/ 98 Yakovlev, Lubyanka, 527-8. dialog.pdf.

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inspectorate. He recommended reaching special inspectorate, and store managers tried an agreement with the local SPD about to fight it. It was one of the few courses of candidates for the heads of the inspectorate.102 work of the One of the first to respond to the explanations agencies that helped enhance cooperation was head of Kharkiv regional office ofTorgsin , between them. Heads of regional offices, Ziskand, who reported that they approved interdistrict storages, and stores filed regular the candidacy for the position of the head requests to the SPD investigators asking to of local special inspectorate L. Voloshyn, a reveal or to prosecute those guilty of stealing member of the All-Union Communist Party, Torgsin goods, hard currency, etc. Thus, head and a former public security officer.103 In of the Kharkiv regional office of Torgsin, fact, former staff of political department also Zazulynskyi, in his letter to the regional held administrative positions in Torgsin. For SPD, dated 10 December 1932, complained instance, before coming to the position of the about forwarders who were “opening tiers of head of the Chernihiv regional office ofTorgsin , herrings a.o., and took some for themselves, Avram Nudelman, had served in the SPD and handed out to Soyuztrans and railway bodies (1921–1922 ), and had been a “political workers, making up for the shortages with fighter” (1923–1924 ). After his discharge from the relevant certificates.”107 The scale of losses Torgsin, he started a job as a deputy head of from such crimes was confirmed by the fact the district committee of the Public Security that from April to June 1935, the Chernihiv Board104 (1933–1934 ).105 In April 1934, a Torgsin office alone was short of 95 kg of rice, secret division of the All-Union Association 3 kg of lump sugar, 3 kg of oranges, 17.5 kg of of Torgsin warned the heads of regional dried fruit, 1 kg of nuts, 7 kg of millet, 5 bottles offices against taking on diamond evaluators of port wine, 7 bottles of vodka, and 4 pairs of without prior approval of their candidacy sports shoes.108 from local USPD bodies.106 However, even The USPD took active part in arrests of such thorough checking did not guarantee Torgsin employees who were suspected of that therecommended persons could provide theft of goods or appropriation of cash. In for the inflow of high quality staff to the April 1932, a cashier of the Odessa Torgsin organization. store, Eibinder, was arrested and accused of The Torgsin staff, suppliers, receivers and misappropriating 20 dollars. Even though a evaluators of valuables were not above chances twice as large amount was seized from the to enrich themselves at the expense of the suspect during the search, he did not plead System or the customers. Therefore, the USPD, guilty. He explained that he received the money found six years ago from his sister 102 Kharkiv State Archive, coll. Р-4640, from Argentina to pay for the gravestone descr. 13, file 13, page 5. 109 103 Ibid., 17. installation for the family grave. Such cases 104 On 10 July 1934, the resolution of the were taken up rather slowly by the courts. On Central Executive Committee of USSR established the all-Union NKVD that instead of the liquidated USPD included the newly established Main 107 Kharkiv State Archive, coll. Р-4640, Directorate of State Security (MDSS) descr. 13, file 3, p. 75. 105 Chernihiv State Archive, coll. П-616, 108 Chernihiv State Archive, coll. Р-2063, descr. 1, file 88, page 85; file 668, page 1. descr. 1, file 578, p. 155, 245-6. 106 Kharkiv State Archive, coll. Р-4640, descr. 13, 109 Odessa State Archive, coll. Р-710, descr. 1, file 13, p. 26. file 235, p. 52.

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20 October 1934, the deputy prosecutor of the stamp “deregistered on 16.ІХ.38” on the USSR Andriy Vyshynskyi stated: personal data sheet might imply that he was arrested and exterminated in the years of mass We still have pending cases initiated in the first repressions.113 The main defendant in the case and second quarters of this year, while some was Moust, the deputy chairman, but from cases had been initiated last year. Due to this August to November 1934, the acting head of absolutely inadmissible delay, the efficiency Torgsin misappropriated 15 000 Karbovanets in of court repressions decreases, whereas the gold over a year of employment, according to abusers in some cases have a chance to hide investigators, Early in 1935, he was dismissed from criminal prosecution.110 and expelled from the party, arrested and taken to the bench.114 The former chairmen For instance, in the first six months of 1935, of the Board of the All-Union association of there were 11 unresolved cases in Chernihiv Torgsin Stashevskyi (October 1932 – August region regarding caused damages or theft 1934) and Levenson (November 1934 – early in the Torgsin points of sales; seven of them 1936) also failed to survive the “great terror.” had been initiated in 1933 and 1934. The On 8 June 1937, Stashevskyi was arrested pace was especially slow in Romny, Shostka, and accused of being involved in a “Polish Hlukhiv, and Konotop.111 Some cases were Military Organization” that is assumed to closed for unclear reasons, or transferred to have conducted partisan and espionage party committees, which allowed the culprits activities against the USSR in the 1920s to avoid punishment. However, there were and 1930s. On 21 August 1937, the Military also cases when the suspects did not lived Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR to the judgement day, such as in the case of sentenced him to capital punishment and the director of the Hlukhiv Torgsin store, execution the same day.115 Levenson was shot Kovshulia, who was accused of theft of on 22 August 1938 in Lefortovo prison. It is two stones of flour.112 assumed that he was named in the case about After Torgsin was liquidated, most of its the “counter-revolutionary organization of managers fell into the grindstones of Stalin the Rightists in the system of The Peoples’ repressions. The former deputy Chairman Commissariat for Trade.”116 The only person of the Board of the All-Union Association of among the chairmen of the Board of Torgsin Torgsin, Azovskyi (July 1932 – February 1935) who survived the mass repressions in 1937 was among the suspects in the case about and 1938 was Moysey Shkliar (January 1931 “misappropriation of public resources” that – October 1932). He waited until the end of was tried in early 1935 by the Commission the repressions in China, where he first was of Party Control. According to Osokina, the 113 Osokina, Zoloto dlya industrializatsii, 551-3. 110 “O zloupotrebleniyah v sisteme V/O 114 N. Migalinskiy, “Esche o ‘dele’ Torgsina,” ‘Torgsin’,” Za sotsialisticheskuyu zakonnost 12 (1934): Vneshnyaya torgovlya 4(1935): 13-4; N. Migalinskiy, 48. “Presech hischeniya v Torgsine (Delo Musta, 111 Chernihiv State Archive, coll. Р-1369, Kosatko i dr.),” Vneshnyaya torgovlya 3(1935): 8-9; descr. 1, file 110, page 46. Osokina, Zoloto dlya industrializatsii, 294-300. 112 Central State Archive of Supreme 115 Elena Osokina, “Borets valyutnogo fronta Artur Governing and Administrative Bodies of Ukraine, Stashevskiy (1890–1937),” Otechestvennaya istoriya coll. 4051, descr. 1, file 150, page 3, 39 on the reverse.; 2(2007): 33-47; Osokina, Zoloto dlya industrializatsii, Chernihiv State Archive, coll. П-616, descr. 1, 103-18. file 379, page 51. 116 Osokina, Zoloto dlya industrializatsii, 182-6.

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the director of the All-Union Export-Import We kindly request you to issue weapons to us – 2 Association for Trade with Xinjiang (West of them, one for the store, and another one for the China). Later he worked as a commercial agent deputy store manager, comrade Korobeynikov. The in Xinjiang. In the end of war, Shkliar shifted store activities are related to purchasing valuables, to work in the Currency Exchange Board of but there are no weapons for security.121 the Peoples’ Commissariat for Trade of the USSR where he was head of the division of the In fact, the security guards did not share the Currency Exchange Board of the Ministry of administration’s opinion about it and refused Foreign Trade of the USSR. He died during his to use weapons instead of clubs and whistles, retirement in 1974.117 fearing attacks targeting not theTorgsin goods, The points of sale of the Association required but the guns as such.122 security guards round the clock. In the first The USPD staff gave themselves treats to visit place, security was supposed to be provided the system stores personally, but in the role by local militia, but they flatly refused to do of customers, when they handed over to buy- so. The branches were only guarded by the back centers the valuables seized from citizens institutional paramilitary militia in the early before. For instance, the officer of the Krolevets days of Torgsin operations. In November, 1932, USPD, Ivan Demydenko, was charged with they were substituted by “civilian” guards.118 the appropriation of funds, collaboration In his report to the head of Odessa Regional with social enemies, and with anti-Soviet Office of Torgsin, the head of the security speeches against collectivization. According sector, Lando, stated: “All security guards are to witnesses, he and his wife bought clothes, verified through the NKVD agencies, and are preserves, and cigarettes many times in the not admitted to work unsanctioned.”119 Low Association stores. At a closed court hearing salaries and no significant privileges mostly of the Special Session of Kharkiv Regional attracted elderly people aged 55 to 65 to these Court (13 April 1934), he was sentenced – jobs, but they did not stay in the positions long dismissal from job, ban on work in the SPD either. The guards were supposed to be armed agencies, reimbursement of the cost of the with weapons, but before guns could be given stolen valuables, and forced labor for a term out to them, they had to receive a special of one year.123 license to carry weapons.120 In December To conclude, we shall try to assess the 1932, the director of Vyatka department store, exchange efficiency of operations of the USPD Beloborodov addressed the operational sector and Torgsin. The volume of proceeds of the of USPD with the request: Political Department can be only estimated in rough terms, since today we only have 117 Osokina, Zoloto dlya industrializatsii, 64-70. fragments of data available on it. According 118 Chernihiv State Archive, coll. Р-2063, descr. 1, file 58, page 11; Osokina, Zoloto dlya to a Russian researcher Osokina, the “average industrializatsii, 267. norm” for yearly confiscations of USPD in 119 Odessa State Archive, coll. Р-1241, descr. 1, file 114, page 107. 120 Chernihiv State Archive, coll. П-616, 121 Semenova, “Deyatelnost Vyatskogo descr. 1, file 379, page 55; coll. Р-1369, descr. 1, otdeleniya,” 37. file 205, page 328; coll. Р-5599, descr. 1, file 20, 122 Chernihiv State Archive, coll. П-616, page 153; Unit for Preservation of Docuemnts of descr. 1, file 379, page 78 on the reverse. the Chernihiv State Archive in the town of Nizhyn, 123 Archive of Security Service of Ukraine in coll. Р-1379, descr. 1, file 78, page 1. Chernihiv region, file 997-П, 62 p.

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the early 1930s was 10–12 mln Karbovanets. tension between them, as the main source of In the formation years for Torgsin, it certainly proceedsfor them were the savings of Soviet could not fully compete with the Department, citizens. However, the Torgsin customers but in 1931, the total proceeds of the system received a chance to legally buy the required (7 mln Karbovanets in gold) were not commodities that were usually in short supply, much lower than the performance of the and to get rid of the dangerous valuables. Political Department. Since 1932, the yields of This method of retrieving hard currency Torgsin went much further than the USPD’s and the jewels was much more “humane” capacity. In 1932, the All-Union Association and more effective than the practices of of Torgsin acquired from population valuables USPD. worth 49.3 mln Karbovanets in gold (13.7 mln By creating the Torgsin, the state conceded – the proceeds of the All-Union Office of its principles, the class-specific approach Torgsin), in 1933 – 115.2 mln (24.6 mln), in in the first place, and allowed people to 1934 – 65.9 mln (13.8 mln), in 1935 – 47.7 mln use their foreign currency as a payment (6.9 mln124).125 instrument, but failed to provide security for them to do so. The government tried to make Conclusions the best use of the strong points of each organization as they realized that Torgsin was This brief overview of Torgsin in the historical a temporary digression. Cases of Torgsin’s research discourse showed that the history of association with one of the divisions of relations of the system with the USPD (NKVD) USPD speak to the fact that the government remains understudied. Before the fall of the was not ready to give preferences to USSR, historians mostly superficially touched either of the methods of subtracting upon the topic, while early specialized works valuables. Therefore there was a lack of any on the association came out as late as in the strict control over the staff of the Political mid-1990s. Department on the grounds. In very possible The role of USPD (NKVD) in the life of Torgsin way Torgsin tried to avoid such statements, appeared to be significant: involvement in even though any acts of USPD in the the selection of job candidates, verification stores or near the stores only added to the of the system employees, fighting cases of assurance of the contrary to the wider public. abuse, issuance of gun licenses, competing However, even under such circumstances, for prospective customers among holders the agencies managed to reach certain of hard currency. Since each organization compromises when each organization played needed to reach their own planned targets its part in the general terms of plundering the for hard currency, there was a certain citizens. Nevertheless, customers kept visiting Torgsin at their own risk and peril until 124 Data for 9 months of 1935. 125 Osokina, Zoloto dlya its liquidation in February 1936 industrializatsii, 543; Central State Archives of Supreme Bodies of Power and Government of Ukraine, coll. 4051, descr. 1, file 24, page 189а; file 84, page 28; file 137, page 61; Chernihiv State Archive, coll.Р-1369, descr. 1, file 107, page 96.

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About the author Mykola Horokh graduated from the History Faculty of Chernihiv Taras Shevchenko State Pedagogical University (2007). In 2013, he received a Ph.D. in History with thesis untitled “Establishment and Functioning of the Torgsin system in Chernihiv Region (1932– 1936 ).” Since 2007, he has worked in at the Chernihiv V.V. Tarnovskyi Historical Museum (since 2014 as a senior research fellow). He has published 60 articles in specialized historical journals, conference collections, newspapers, most of them on the history of Torgsin. In 2018, his book “The Gold to the State! Torgsin in Chernihiv Region (1932–1936)” was published. It is the first book ever on the regional history of the Torgsin system.

Euxeinos, Vol. 9, No. 27 / 2019 62 The “Eastern Action” of the OUN(b) and the Anti-Jewish Violence in the Summer of 1941: The Cases of Smotrych and Kupyn

by Andriy Usach

Abstract The article analyses the role of the OUN(b) activists in the commission of the anti-Jewish violence during the first weeks of Nazi occupation of Ukraine. What was the OUN(b) a ttitude to the Jewish minority on the eve of the war between the Third Reich and the USSR? How was the commission of the anti-Jewish violence by Ukrainian nationalists interconnected with their plans to expand the activity in the regions where they had never taken any actions before the war? Who were the perpetrators of anti-Jewish violence? The author offered answers to these questions on the examples of the mass murders committed by the OUN(b) activists and local residents during July-August 1941 in the Podillian towns Smotrych and Kupyn.

Key words: the Holocaust, anti-Jewish violence, Ukrainian nationalism, OUN(b), “Sich”

his article attempts to address a number of is mostly based on archive files of criminal Tissues. The first one concerns the opinions cases from the archives of the Security Service expressed by the key members of the OUN(b) of Ukraine (Sluzhba bezpeky Ukrainy – SBU). on the Jewish minority in 1940-1941, and Some researchers of anti-Jewish violence how they correlated with the development in Ukraine in summer 1941 have already of specific plans for their activities after the touched upon the issues.2 The high relevance attack of the Third Reich on the Soviet Union. of the source remains undoubted. On the one The second issue about the peculiarity of the hand, it stems from the Soviet investigation “Eastern Action”1 of the OUN(b) in summer practices themselves when tools of physical 1941 is related to the efforts to expand their and moral pressure were used.3 On the other activities beyond Western Ukraine (where hand, the archive criminal cases contain plenty they have operated more or less actively in of valuable information, which is particularly the interwar period) further to the territory useful when contrasted with the data from that had been part of the Ukrainian SSR other sources. until September 1939. It also pertains to the relationship with the wave of anti-Jewish 2 For more examples, see: Klymenko, Oleh and Serhii Tkachov. Ukraintsi v politsii v Dystrykti violence that swept Ukraine at the time. The “Halychyna” (Chortkivskyi Okruh): Nimetskyi third issue is related to resuming anti-Jewish okupatsiinyi rezhym v pivdennykh raionakh Ternopilshchyny u 1941-1944 rr. Kharkiv: Ranok- violence in the towns of Smotrych and Kupyn NT, 2012; Rodal, Alti. “A Village Massacre: in the Kamyanets-Podilskyi region in the first The Particular and the Context.” Ed. by Simon Geissbühler. In Romania and the Holocaust: Events, weeks of Nazi occupation, and to outline the Contexts, Aftermath. Stuttgart: ibidem Press, 2016: possible motives for Ukrainian nationalists 59-88; Struve, Kai. Deutsche Herrschaft, ukrainischer Nationalismus, antijüdische Gewalt: Der Sommer 1941 arriving from Western Ukraine and for local in der Westukraine. Berlin: de Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2015. citizens to become engaged in it. The study 3 For more details see: Exeler, Franziska. “The Ambivalent State: Determining Guilt in the 1 For the term “Eastern Action”, see: Central Post-World War II Soviet Union.” Slavic Review State Archive of Supreme Bodies of Power and 75, № 3 (2016): 606-629; Penter, Tanja. “Local Government of Ukraine (Tsentralnyi derzhavnyi Collaborators on Trial: Soviet War Crimes Trials arkhiv vyshchykh orhaniv vlady ta upravlinnia under Stalin (1943-1953).” Cahiers du Monde russe Ukrainy – TsDAVOV), f. 3833, op. 1, spr. 14, ark. 15. 49, № 2-3 (2008): 341-364.

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In general terms, the fate of the Jewish to provide further details about Kupyn. communities of Kupyn and Smotrych during Therefore, it made him show the engagement the Second World War has already been of OUN(b) activists in the anti-Jewish violence highlighted in the historiography of the merely as a “breech on the part of local Holocaust.4 However, the facts considered activists” of decisions of the Directorate of the in this text have not been introduced into OUN(b).7 On the whole, authors frequently the research discourse before. It was only in tend to withhold the role of Ukrainian 2000 when a local historian Yuriy Oliynyk nationalists in persecutions of Jewish people mentioned in one of his publications that during the Second World War by selectively the members of the OUN(b) who came to quoting inconvenient sources, ignoring them Smotrych in the beginning of Nazi occupation or even negating their authenticity.8 “took active part in exterminating Jewish On the contrary, the issue of anti-Jewish population,” with no further details provided.5 violence on the recently occupied territory In May 2016, in Kyiv, a public discussion of Ukraine in summer 1941, including also on “Ukrainian Nationalism and Jews the involvement of Ukrainian nationalist (1920s-1950s)” took place where I articulated groups in these events, has been repeatedly preliminary research results from studying raised by Western scholars. It was most often the episodes of summer 1941 in Smotrych and exemplified by events in Eastern Galicia Kupyn.6 One of the participants of the public and Northern Bukovina, and more seldom discussion, the head of Ukrainian Institute of – in Western Volhynia.9 As to the role of the National Memory, Volodymyr Vyatrovych, 7 I hereby express my gratitude to Oksana took part in a conference in March 2017 “The Cerisier for offering a video recording of the speech Shoah in Ukraine – New Perspectives on the of Vyatrovych at the conference in Paris. A slightly modified text of his report was later published Misfortunes of the 20th century.” In his report, on a Ukrainian web portal “Zbruč”: Viatrovych, Volodymyr. “Chy bula OUN antysemitskoiu”. he repeated some of the statements I voiced Zbruč. April 19, 2017. https://zbruc.eu/node/64962 during the public discussion. Vyatrovych 8 Derevinskyi, Vasyl. Stavlennia OUN(b) i UPA do susidnikh narodiv ta natsionalnykh menshyn. mentioned the events in Smotrych, but failed Kyiv: Instytut istorii Ukrainy NANU, 2006; Patryliak, Ivan. “U poloni stiikykh stereotypiv: 4 Kruglov, Aleksandr, Andrey Umanskiy i stavlennia Orhanizatsii Ukrainskykh Natsionalistiv Igor Shchupak. Kholokost v Ukraine: Reykhskomissariat do yevreiskoi menshyny v mizhvoiennyi period i “Ukraina.” Gubernatorstvo “Transnistriya”. Dnipro: pershi roky Druhoi svitovoi viiny”. Drohobytskyi Ukrainskiy institut izucheniya Kholokosta kraieznavchyi zbirnyk, спецвипуск ІІ (2015): 94-108; “Tkuma”, 2016: 547; Megargee, Geoffrey, and Viatrovych, Volodymyr. Stavlennia OUN do yevreiv: Martin Dean, eds. Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, formuvannia pozytsii na tli katastrofy. Lviv: Ms, 2006. 1933-1945. Vol. 2. Bloomington: Indiana University 9 For more on Eastern Galicia, see: Himka, Press, 2012: 1470-1471; Spector, Shmuel, and John-Paul. “The Lviv Pogrom of 1941: The Geoffrey Wigoder, eds. The Encyclopedia of Jewish Germans, Ukrainian Nationalists, and the Carnival Life Before and During the Holocaust. Vol. II. New Crowd.” Canadian Slavonic Papers 53, № 2-4 (2011): York: NYU Press, 2001: 690-691; Ibid. Vol. III: 1205. 209-243; Struve. Deutsche Herrschaft. On Northern 5 Oliinyk, Yurii. “Borotba OUN-UPA proty Bukovina, see: Geissbühler, Simon. Blutiger Juli. okupatsiinoho rezhymu na Khmelnychchyni”. Rumäniens Vernichtungskrieg und der vergessene Materialy X-oi Podilskoi istoryko-kraieznavchoi Massenmord an den Juden 1941. Padeborn: Ferdinand konferentsii, prysviachenoi 55-ii richnytsi peremohy Schöningh, 2013; Rodal. “A Village Massacre”: u Velykii Vitchyznianii viini. Kamianets-Podilskyi: 59-88; Solonari, Vladimir. “Patterns of Violence: Kamianets-Podilskyi derzhavnyi pedadohichnyi The Local Population and the Mass Murder of universytet, 2000: 75. Jews in Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina, July- 6 Public discussion “Ukrainian Nationalism August 1941.” Kritika: Explorations in Russian and and Jews (1920-1950).” https://www.youtube.com/ Eurasian History 8, № 4 (2007): 749-787. On Western watch?v=qiVLNwDomDk&t=3552s (Last accessed: Volhynia, see: Snyder, Timothy. “The Life and September, 14, 2017). Death of Western Volhynian Jewry, 1921-1945.”

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OUN(b), there is a noticeable trend to explain “Clearing Our the Area from the Foe actions of its acivists rather through the Elements”: Views of OUN(b) on the Jewish prism of ideological motivation only.10 It is Minority, 1940-1941 an obviously simplified explanation. After all, the level of ideological indoctrination of the Most researchers agree that the attitudes of OUN(b) activists, especially those who joined Ukrainian nationalists towards the Jewish the organizational activity only in summer minority started becoming more radical 1941, or not long before that time, requires after 1933.12 It was obviously not a one-time more detailed study. episode. It was related in a number of both Presently, there are very few studies reaching external and interal factors. However, it beyond Western Ukraine. The texts by Wendy appears that the final radicalization coincided Lower and Oleksandr Melnyk offer the not only with the early period of the Second promising prospect of studying these issues World War, but also with the internal crisis beyond the common territorial framework within the OUN, which led to its split, and and timeline.11 This text will place particular the further development in 1940/41 of two emphasis on an absolutely understudied separate same-name organizations under the region in this respect, the Kamyanets-Podilskyi guidance of the chief (vozhd) Andriy Melnyk, region (oblast’). On the one hand, it was part and a leader (providnyk) Stepan Bandera – the of the Ukrainian SSR before the events of OUN(m) and OUN(b), respectively. For the September 1939, which made it impossible to OUN(b) specifically, it was a period of tough observe any influence of Ukrainian nationalist political struggle with their rivals as well as ideas in the interwar period. On the other hand, active preparation for the expected military due to its borderline location, it was one of the conflict between the Third Reich and the first regions which they managed to pervade Soviet Union which was treated as an impetus in summer 1941, when it was turned into a sort to initiate “Ukrainian nation building.” Since of staging area for the “Eastern Action.” the late 1940s at the latest, all activities of the OUN(b) were aligned with the prospects of the forthcoming war.13 Ed. by Ray Brandon and Wendy Lower. In The Shoah in Ukraine: History, Testimony, Memorialization. The landmark in the attitude of the OUN(b) Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2008: 91- towards the Jewish community in this period 93; Spector, Shmuel. The Holocaust of Volhynian Jews, 1941-1944. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 1990: 64-71. 10 For more, see an illustrative review by 12 For more details, see: Carynnyk, Marco. Grzegorz Rossolinski-Liebe on the monograph “Foes of Our Rebirth: Ukrainian Nationalist by Kai Struve, and the further discussion Discussions about Jews, 1929–1947.” Nationalities between them: Rossolinski-Liebe, Grzegorz. “K. Papers 39, № 3 (2011): 315-352; Hon, Maksym. Iz Struve: Der Sommer 1941 in der Westukraine.” kryvdoiu na samoti: ukrainsko-yevreiski vzaiemyny na http://www.hsozkult.de/publicationreview/id/ zakhidnoukrainskykh zemliakh u skladi Polshchi (1935- rezbuecher-24974 (Last accessed - September, 14, 1939). Rivne: Volynski oberehy, 2005; Kurylo, Taras. 2016). “The ‘Jewish Question’ in the Ukrainian Nationalist 11 Lower, Wendy. “Pogroms, Mob Violence Discourse of the Inter-War Period». Polin: Studies in and Genocide in Western Ukraine, Summer 1941: Polish Jewry 26 (2014): 233-258; Zaitsev, Oleksandr. Varied Histories, Explanations and Comparisons.” Ukrainskyi integralnyi natsionalizm (1920-1930-ti Journal of Genocide Research 13, № 3 (2011): 217- roky). Narysy intelektualnoi istorii. Kyiv: Krytyka, 246; Melnyk, Oleksandr. “Stalinist Justice as a Site 2013. of Memory: Anti-Jewish Violence in Kyiv’s Podil 13 Sectoral State Archive of the Security District in September 1941 through the Prism of Service of Ukraine (Haluzevyi derzhavnyi arkhiv Soviet Investigative Documents.” Jahrbücher für Sluzhby Bezpeky Ukrainy – HDA SBU), f. 5, spr. Geschichte Osteuropas 61, № 2 (2013): 223-248. 67418, t. 3, ark 12.

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is considered to be a fragment from the In order to have a deeper insight into the resolutions of the ІІ Great Assembly of April contents of the resolutions, they must 1941: be considered within the context of the prevailing moods among the leading activists Jews in the USSR present the most devoted of the OUN(b). Except for the statements of support of the ruling Bolshevik regime, and they the OUN(m), there is no other information are the avantgarde of Moscow-based imperialism in on Yaryi’s engagement in the phrasing of the Ukraine. Anti-Jewish attitudes are used by Moscow resolutions of the ІІ Grand Assembly. The Bolshevik authorities in order to distract the focus young Ukrainian nationalists Ivan Mitrynha, of the Ukrainian masses from the actual cause Yaroslav Stetsko, Dmytro Myron, and Yaroslav of tribulation, so that in the time of disruption Starukh were most actively involved.17 During they would be targeted at Jewish pogroms. The 1940/41, at least three of them produced Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists fights Jews texts in which they described their attitudes because of their support of the Moscow Bolshevik towards the Jewish community. regime, at the same time raising awareness among In the text “Our Road of Struggle” published the masses that Moscow is the main enemy.14 in 1940, Mitrynha described Jews as “internal enemies” and had no doubts about them being The fragment clearly indicated the completion among those who would oppose the building of the process of refining the depersonified of the Ukrainian state.18 On the whole, he image of Jews as sheer supporters of the Soviet suggested introducing a discriminatory policy regime and Russian imperialism. A negative on ethnic minorities in the future Ukrainian attitude towards Jewish pogroms was declared State. According to Mitrynha, the “evidently therein as destructive and inspired from non-Ukrainian elements” should be on the outside. It is also notable that it was the reason lowest social standing: for derision on the part of political rivals from the OUN(m), alleging that the USSR “Jewish This element, provided they live in Ukraine and government” could not a priori “propagandize work in the allocated areas of life of Ukrainian anti-Jewish”15 sentiments. They adduced this people, will be entitled on the Ukrainian land to fragment in the abovementioned resolutions as receive the earnings the Ukrainian authorities a result of deliberate insinuations of one of the deem fair.19 leading members of the OUN(b), Rik Yaryi, a “Jewish skinchanger Yaryi” who allegedly “in Along with it, he set the objective to cleanse a mysterious way, wishes to save his semitic “non-Ukrainian elements”, but failed to brothers from the inevitable final massacre in suggest any specific activities.20 As regards the USSR.”16 the Jewish minority, Mitrynha stated that “the 14 Dziuban, Orest, upor. Ukrainske derzhavotvorennia: Akt 30 chervnia 1941. Zbirnyk 328. dokumentiv i materialiv. Lviv; Kyiv: Piramida, 2001: 17 Archive of the Center for Research on the 11. Liberation Movement (Arkhiv Tsentru doslidzhen 15 HDA SBU, f. 13, spr 376, t. 9, ark 101. vyzvolnoho rukhu – ATsDVR), f. 2, t. 1, od. zb. 1, 16 Ibid., ark. 100 rev. The assumed Jewish ark. 58. origin of Yaryi, as well as his marriage with a 18 Oreliuk, Serhii [Mitrynha, Ivan]. Nash baptized Jewish woman were a popular topic in shliakh borotby. part 2. s.l.: s.n., 1940: 11. anti-Bandera propaganda of the OUN(m). For more 19 Ibid., part 1: 98-99. details, see: Carynnyk. “Foes of Our Rebirth”: 327- 20 Ibid., 79, 83-84.

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issue should be addressed separately.”21 State.”25 It is notable that he made a similar In the same year of 1940, Myron published statement in the late 1930s.26 Parallel to it, his text “Idea and Actions of Ukraine.” Like Stetsko divided ethnic minorities into four Mitrynha, he advocated for the need to categories: 1) supporters; 2) those who fight “cleanse Ukrainian lands from the outside against the occupants but are either not in hostile elements of occupant states foreign favour, or do not care about the creation of the to Ukraine, such as Poles, Moscals, Magyars, Ukrainian State; 3) the oppressors themselves; Romanians, and Jews.”22 In this respect, Myron and 4) “occupants’ aids.” He also included claimed: Jews in the latter category. It is not so easy to understand how the hierarchy developed Ukrainian nationalism is going to treat ethnic by Stetsko was supposed to agree with the minorities in Ukraine in the way they treat the following passage, almost identical to what Ukrainian liberation struggle of Ukrainian people. Myron had written: Only those representatives of other nationalities who gained this right with the pain of their The position of the Ukrainian State towards ethnic blood and property will have the right to stay in minorities will be determined by their conduct in Ukrainian lands.23 a time of national revolution, and in the period of consolidating the state.27 Here is what he said specifically about the Jewish minority: It appears that at least between Stetsko and Myron there was certain consensus on this We do not fight any special battle against the Jews. issue. However, while at this stage it was We are going to fight the Jews as a tool of hostile really planned to grant to ethnic minorities occupant states, and specifically as vehicles and a chance to prove their loyalty, there was advocates of Bolshevik’s oppression and propagators nothing mentioned about how it could be of the Communist doctrine.24 implemented in practice. At the same time, not only did the texts by In the text “On the Subject Matter of Life of the Stetsko and Myron render their personal State” written in about the same period, Stetsko ideas, but also, to a certain extent, shaped principally assured that the government the ideological environment inside the of the future Ukrainian state “in respect to OUN(b). They had not lost their relevance national minorities is not going to have any during the initial stages of the war between extermination policy, but will provide for their the Third Reich and the Soviet Union.28 For cultural and economic development within instance, on 20 July 1941 Starukh, in his report integrity and sovereignty of the Ukrainian on organizing the printing of nationalist literature in the Kyiv region, expressed the

21 Oreliuk, Serhii [Mitrynha, Ivan]. Nash 25 TsDAVOV, f. 3833, op. 2, spr 39, ark. 19. shliakh borotby. part 2. s.l.: s.n., 1940: 94. 26 Zaitsev. Ukrainskyi integralnyi natsionalizm: 22 Orlyk, Maksym [Myron, Dmytro]. Ideia 280. i chyn Ukrainy (Nacherk ideolohichno-politychnykh 27 TsDAVOV, f. 3833, op. 2, spr. 39, ark. 19. osnov ukrainskoho natsionalizmu). s.l.: s.n., 1940: 48, 28 Stasiuk, Oleksandra. Vydavnycho- 51, 119. propahandyvna diialnist OUN (1941-1953 rr.). 23 Ibid., 119. Lviv: TsDVR; Instytut ukrainoznavstva im. I. 24 Ibid., 119. Krypiakevycha, 2006: 22-23.

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intention to republish both of Stetsko’s texts and Jewish figures, especially the supporters of “On the Subject Matter of Life of the State”, Bolshevik Moscow imperialism.33 but with the “brief supplement on Jews.”29 Unfortunately, there is no knowledge on the It undoubtedly implied that “Ukrainian state nature of this supplement or whether it was building” had to be accompanied with mass republished at all. violence against ethnic minorities as based on After the ІІ Grand Assembly, the preparations the principle of collective responsibility. At of the OUN(b) activist group for the expected the same time, it must also be kept in mind, military conflict intensified.30 It is known that according to the guidelines, that there are Stetsko was one of those who in May 1941 factors, which are major supporters of the personally developed the guidelines “Struggle NKVD powers and Soviet rule in Ukraine and Activities of the OUN in Wartime” that and must be destroyed during the period were supposed to regulate the activities of the of establishing a new revolutionary order OUN(b) after the attack of the Third Reich on the in Ukraine. The factors are the following: Soviet Union. Bandera, Roman Shukhevych, “... 2. Jews, both individually, and as a national and Stepan Lenkavskyi also contributed to the group.”34 It was considered within the guidelines.31 In the guidelines, the hierarchy OUN(b) as a precondition for the successful of ethnic minorities was much simpler than implementation of their plans to create the suggested earlier by Stetsko – “friends” and Ukrainian state and destroy the possible “foes” only. It is also notable that Jews were opponents of this process. included in the “enemy ethnic minorities,” along with Poles and Russians. Among other “Nasty, dirty, and Jewish”: Activities of the things, there were plans to register, isolate, Marching Groups of the OUN(b) and dismiss them from almost all positions, as well as to apply other discriminatory The so called ‘marching’ cells or groups measures, including executions at the slightest were supposed to be the striking force in suspicion of sabotage or loyalty to the Soviet implementing “Ukrainian state-building” regime. It was definitively declared that any on the territories that used to be part of the possibility for assimilation of Jews would Ukrainian SSR before September 1939, thus be definitively rejected.32 In the course of out of the influence of Ukrainian nationalists. “cleansing the territory from the foe elements”, The OUN(b) Leadership (Provid) put forward the following statements were made: this idea at the end of 1940.35 With the start of war, they were supposed to advance following In times of chaos and disarray, we can afford the front line, establish local governments and liquidating the unwanted Polish, Moscow, keep them under their control, disseminate 29 Dziuban. Ukrainske derzhavotvorennia: 221. nationalist propaganda, organize the network 30 Klymyshyn, Mykola. V pokhodi do voli. Spo- myny. vol. 1. Toronto: Liha Vyzvolennia Ukrainy; Doslidnyi in.stytut “Studiium”, 1975: 306. 33 Dziuban. Ukrainske derzhavotvorennia: 37. 31 ATsDVR, f. 2, t. 1, od. zb. 1, ark. 59, 68-69; 34 HDA SBU, f. 13, spr. 376, t. 49, ark 2. Carynnyk. “Foes of Our Rebirth”: 329. 35 Matla, Zynovii. Pivdenna pokhidna hrupa. 32 HDA SBU, f. 13, spr 376, t. 6, ark 301-302. Munich: Nasha Knyhozbirnia, 1952: 3; Rehei, Vasyl. For a more detailed analysis of these guidelines, Vid Sianu do Dnipra. Prychynky do istorii Pivdennoi see: Carynnyk. “Foes of Our Rebirth”: 329-332; pokhidnoi hrupy OUN 1941-1942 rr. Kalush: Б. в., Struve. Deutsche Herrschaft: 188-195. 1994: 8.

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of the OUN(b), and engage therein the local and respect our laws.”39 population on a mass scale. Thus, accrediting In total, three marching groups were mass support for their activities, the OUN(b) established: the 1st North Group in Przemysl expected the Third Reich to recognize the land, the 2nd Central Group in Chelm land, and Ukrainian State. The people needed for the the 3rd South Group in the Lemkivshchyna establishment of the marching groups started area. Each of them were given a distinctive in the early 1941 were selected from Ukrainian mark to help recognize one another: it was nationalists who were staying on the territory supposed to be a seam, or a stitching thread of of the Governorate-General.36 In Cracow, the respective color, barely noticeable on the they created a Planning Center for Marching clothing. A general codeword was also defined Groups of the OUN(b), including Vasyl to help connect the members of the marching Kuk, Roman Malashchuk, and Zenon Matla, groups: “Where does God take you?” – “To who were in charge of their administration, where the pillars prop the skies.”40 Their total numerical composition, the routes, the specific number was about 700 persons.41 destinations for every member, and the The 3rd South Marching Group of the OUN(b) functions they had to perform upon arrival.37 (Pivdenna pokhidna hrupa – PPH) was the most Depending on the assigned roles, the selected successful in its activities. It is also the best staff were sent to undertake the respective described group in available memoirs.42 The training courses. Special emphasis was placed person in charge of its establishment was on studying the Russian language, Soviet Tymish Semchyshyn, “Myroslav Richka”, a literature, the peculiarities of state structure county leader (okruzhnyi providnyk) of OUN(b) of the Ukrainian SSR, and customs of the local population.38 It is known that at least Stetsko 39 Pavlyshyn, Luka. “Na hrani dvokh svitiv…” Spohady viiskovyka-banderivtsia. Lviv: Spolom, 2010: personally met the future members of the 162. 40 HDA SBU, f. 6, spr. 74327-FP, t. 1, ark. marching groups. He laid emphasis, among 67-68; Ibid., t. 2, ark. 28; Klymyshyn. V pokhodi do other things, on the following: “Only those voli: 319-320; Lysiak, Oleh. “Povernemos.” Homin Ukrainy, № 29 (1957): 9; Matla. Pivdenna pokhidna will be able to live in our nation state who hrupa: 7; Rehei. Vid Sianu do Dnipra: 9. recognize our traditions, culture, language, 41 Lebed. «Orhanizatsiia protynimetskoho oporu»: 150. 42 In addition to the abovementioned, see: 36 Archive of the Security Service of Ukraine Zovenko, Orest [Khovailo, Osyp]. Bezimenni. in Lviv Region (Arkhiv upravlinnia Sluzhby Spohad uchasnyka novitnikh vyzvolnykh zmahan. bezpeky Ukrainy v Lvivskii oblasti – AUSBULO), s.l.: s.n., 1946; Lysiak, Oleh. “Den 30 chervnia f. 6, spr. P-36200, t. 2, ark. 106; Lebed, Mykola. 1941 i pershi dni pislia toho (Spohad uchasnyka “Orhanizatsiia protynimetskoho oporu OUN 1941- pokhidnykh hrup OUN).” Shliakh Peremohy, № 1943 rokiv”. Suchasnist, № 1-2 (1983): 149. 31 (1979): 2, 5-6; Lysiak, Oleh. “Po skhidnomu 37 Klymyshyn. V pokhodi do voli: 307; marshrutu (Spomyn uchasnyka pokhidnykh Malashchuk, Roman. Z knyhy moho zhyttia. Spomyny. hrup)“. Almanakh “Homonu Ukrainy” na rik 1961. vol. 1. Toronto: Homin Ukrainy; Doslidnyi instytut Toronto: Homin Ukrainy, 1961: 146-150; Oliinyk, “Studiium”, 1987: 227-228; Matla. Pivdenna pokhidna Roman. “Intsydent na dorozi do Krymu”. Vyzvolnyi hrupa: 3, 7, 8. Shliakh, № 7 (1998): 817-818; Pasichniak, Vasyl. 38 HDA SBU, f. 5, spr 67418, t. 3, ark. 12; “Prozirky z moho tverdoho zhyttia». red. Mykhailo Ibid., f.6, spr 74327-FP, t. 1, ark. 65; Matla. Pivdenna Marunchak. V borotbi za Ukrainsku derzhavu. Esei, pokhidna hrupa: 4; S.-Chartoryiskyi, Mykola [Sydor, spohady, svidchennia, litopysannia, dokumenty Druhoi Mykola]. Vid Sianu po Krym (Spomyny uchasnyka III svitovoi viiny. Winnipeg: Svitova liha ukrainskykh pokhidnoi hrupy-Pivden). New York: Hoverlia, 1951: politychnykh viazniv, 1990: 569-575; Pashchak, 100; Chubai, Mstyslav [Dzyndra, Yaroslav]. Reid Yaroslav. “Pivdenna pokhidna hrupa OUN. orhanizatoriv OUN vid Popradu po Chorne more (Iz Storinky spohadiv”. Dzvin, № 8-9 (1998): 87-91; zapysnyka roiovoho). Munich: Nasha knyhozbirnia, Tselevych, Uliana. “Pokhidni hrupy v Ukraini”. 1952: 26-27. Shliakh Peremohy, № 26 (1967): 5.

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in Lemkivshchyna. He learned about the plan divided into swarms, with 5 to 12 persons in to establish marching groups in February 1941 each. The swarm included a leader and his from the OUN(b) leader in the Governorate- deputy, the Security Service (Sluzhba Bezpeky General Yaroslav Khomiv, “Limnytskyi.” – SB) referent, a propagandist, an economic He ordered Semchyshyn in April 1941 to provisor, an overnight vigilant, a person in start establishing the swarms (roi) of the charge of establishing local authorities, and future PPH from the Ukrainian nationalists a signalman. Upon arrival to destinations, subjected to him. The respective lists were they established regional, county and district compiled, and the swarm leaders (roiovi) were authorities of the OUN(b).47 Members of the appointed. For this purpose, every participant PPH travelled on foot, but more often, rode was suppposed to fill in the questionnaire bicycles, on carts, and one of the swarms and indicate, among other things, which field even used a bus for several days.48 The of the future Ukrainian state he preferred communication between the PPH command working in.43 The core of the PPH consisted of staff and the swarms was established with the members of the Unit of Young Men (Kurin the help of a special password: “What is molodi) in the Ukrainian Relief Committee your glory?” – “It’s cossack’s, and bloody.”49 (Ukrainskyi Dopomohovyi Komitet) in Sanok, a Besides, every swarm had its encoded legal youth entity headed by the same person, name that was indicated in black ink on the Semchyshyn.44 In May 1941, he received from landmarks along the route to inform those Cracow 10 copies of the guidelines “Struggle who followed.50 and Activities of the OUN in Wartime” that he In fact, within the two weeks upon the Third sent out to his subordinates, and personally Reich’s attack on the Soviet Union, the PPH controlled how they studied them. Two or managed to go through all of East Galicia three days before the attack of the Third Reich of which had already left by that time for different on the Soviet Union, Semchyshyn received an destinations in East Galicia (Lviv, Drohobych, order to appoint him as leader of the PPH, and Sambir, Skole, Ternopil, a.o.): Dziuban. Ukrainske derzhavotvorennia: 217; TsDAVOV, f. 3833, op. 1, established the command staff that included spr. 14, ark. 22-24. Among the persons who had left five referents – personal, military, economic, the PPH was, for example, Bohdan Pidhaynyi. He left for Lviv where he applied to be a Wehrmacht communications, and propaganda, and a interpreter, on the orders of the land leader (kraiovyi typist lady. In addition, they were also joined providnyk) of OUN(b) Ivan Klymiv – “Yevhen Legenda”: Pidhainyi, Bohdan. “Haudeamus”. by a member of the OUN(b) Leadership, Visti Kombatanta, № 3 (243) (2005): 55-57. Two Matla.45 other participants of the PPH who left for Lviv, the brothers Volodymyr and Yevhen Kachmarski, Initially, the numerical composition of the enrolled to local police: Rich, David Alan. “Armed Ukrainians in L’viv: Ukrainian Militia, Ukrainian PPH was up to 300 persons, but it soon went Police, 1941 to 1942.” Canadian-American Slavic down to 200.46 Members of the PPH were Studies 48, № 3 (2014): 282-283. 47 HDA SBU, f. 6, spr. 74327-FP, t. 2, ark. 26- 27, 50; Chubai. Reid orhanizatoriv OUN: 6. 43 HDA SBU, f. 6, spr. 74327-FP, t. 1, ark. 65- 48 Information sheet № 1, 13 July 1941, 66. ATsDVR (not compiled), ark. 1; Lysiak. ”Den 30 44 Rehei. Vid Sianu do Dnipra: 4. chervnia”: 2; Matla. Pivdenna pokhidna hrupa: 9; 45 HDA SBU, f. 6, spr. 74327-FP, t. 1, ark. 64, Rehei. Vid Sianu do Dnipra: 10. 66-67. 49 HDA SBU, f. 6, spr. 74327-FP, t. 2, ark. 28. 46 AUSBULO, f. 6, spr. P-36200, t. 2, ark. 50 For example, the swarm, that included 108; HDA SBU, f. 6, spr. 74327-FP, t. 1, ark. 65. As members of the command staff of PPH was called of July, 9, 1941, Semchyshyn was aware of 286 “Г1”: HDA SBU, f. 6, spr. 74327-FP, t. 1, ark. 68; participants in the PPH who crossed the Sian, 95 TsDAVOV, f. 3833, op. 1, spr. 14, ark. 20, 25.

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up to Ternopil, where they stayed for several their destinations from there, particularly the days. When summarizing the activities over swarm “К1” under the guidance of Mykola this period, Semchyshyn emphasized the Kozak who on 15 July 1941 set out towards following functions which the subordinate Kamyanets-Podilskyi through Skala-Podilska swarms were performing: “liquidating the and Husiatyn.56 “On its way, the swarm “К1” harmful and foe elements (NKVD officers, entered the villages, held public meetings, secret agents, Jews, Poles, and Moskals).”51 liquidated NKVD officers and other bastards They then received more detailed instructions who remain”, as Kozak reported on 31 July on activities in that respect. “We were 1941.57 authorized to grant awards for good deeds, The impressions of Ukrainian nationalists and assign punishment for infringements of their stay on the territory of Kamyanets- against the Nation”, as the swarm leader Podilskyi region could be implied from the Mykola Sydor mentioned in his memories.52 In notes of a female member of the PPH about fact, the MSG was only supposed to engage in the first town they arrived in: “Volochysk its activities after crossing the former Polish- leaves a bad impression. A dilapidated Jewish Soviet border along the Zbruch river.53 In and dirty town.” The description she left about Ternopil, a first update was received on the the next stop, the town of Proskuriv, was situation beyond Zbruch – on the territory of similar: “Nasty, dirty, and Jewish. You don’t the recently occupied Kamyanets-Podilskyi even feel like staying longer.”58 In line with region. The “Information Bulletin” of the the guidelines “Struggle and Activities of the PPH noted the inert attitudes of locals, as OUN in Wartime,” members of the PPH had well as anti-Semitic attitude: “People hate the to observe the moods and attitudes among the Jews but there is not any specific response.”54 local population, in order to identify contact It obviously contrasted with the events in points that could be used to disseminate Western Ukraine resulting in a wave of nationalist propaganda among them. Initially, Jewish pogroms in summer 1941, including in it was not an easy task. Local people treated localities that the PPH itinerary ran through, them suspiciously, taking them for Poles or such as Dobromyl, Sambir, Drohobych, Stryi, even Germans who could speak Ukrainian, Rohatyn, Berezhany, Ternopil, among others.55 and in order to convince them of the contrary, In Ternopil, they finalized the make-up of they had to take much time.59 In their reports, the swarms of the PPH that had to leave to members of the PPH noted the attitude of local population towards Jews. For instance, we 51 Information sheet № 1, 13 July 1941, ATsDVR (not compiled), ark. 1. read about the Proskuriv district: 52 S.-Chartoryiskyi. Vid Sianu po Krym: 101. 53 AUSBULO, f. 6, spr. P-36200, t. 2, ark. 109. 54 Information Bulletin № 1, 13 July1941, ATsDVR (not compiled), ark. 2. 56 HDA SBU, f. 6, spr. 74327-FP, t. 2, ark. 37; 55 The most holistic information on the Lysiak. “Den 30 chervnia”: 2; Order № 12, 15 July events in these settlements is presented by Struve: 1941, ATsDVR (not compiled), ark. 1, 4; Report № 5, Struve. Deutsche Herrschaft: 216-234, 433-442, 446- July, 20, 1941, ATsDVR (not compiled), ark. 1. 464, 492-496, 502-515, 591-621. The fact that the PPH 57 TsDAVOV, f. 3833, op. 1, spr. 14, ark. 13. members were at least the eye-witnesses of the anti- 58 Dziuban. Ukrainske derzhavotvorennia: 239. Jewish violence in Dobromyl and Stryi is confirmed 59 HDA SBU, f. 6, spr. 74327-FP, t. 1, ark. in the memoirs of the swarm leaders Mykola Sydor 77; Dziuban. Ukrainske derzhavotvorennia: 239; and Yaroslav Dzyndra: S.-Chartoryiskyi. Vid Sianu Zovenko. Bezimenni: 65-66; Pasichniak. “Prozirky”: po Krym: 29-30, 56, 59; Chubai. Reid orhanizatoriv 570; S.-Chartoryiskyi. Vid Sianu po Krym: 112-114; OUN: 18. Chubai. Reid orhanizatoriv OUN: 29, 33.

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Villagers hated the Jews and mentioned the Jews “А1” operated under the guidance of Sydor. as a source of the whole disaster. During times of In his memories, he paid much attention to starvation, Jews in cities had bread to eat. People are describing relations with Jewish community happy when the Germans shoot the Jews down.60 of Felshtyn and even gave a detailed account on how one local Jew he calls Solomon The attitudes in the Volochysk district were Moyseyovych murdered another one, Motya described in the following way: Dovhyi. It was allegedly committed in revenge for his collaboration with the Soviet In villages, there are no Jews, but they are in the regime.63 Ukrainian nationalists, according towns. And they threaten to bathe in Ukrainian to Sydor, did not support such murders, blood. That is why residents in some localities of and even sentenced Solomon Moyseyovych the Volochysk district do not even sleep at homes, to the punishment of 25 beatings.64 He did as they fear the Jews.61 not mention a word about his personal engagement in committing a “small cleansing In the report on the situation in Felshtyn of the Jewish community.” After all, it fully district, we can find the following passage: fit within the post-war nationalist narrative. Instead, in her testimonies, a Felshtyn Jewish Their ongoing shootings in the fields and the Jews lady Etya Tsalevich, presents the stay in the are somewhat depressing. Later, upon demand town of a “police subdivision of Western by the village, a small cleansing of the Jewish Ukrainians” (as she called the visiting community was conducted. Later, the villagers, Ukrainian nationalists) in an absolutely mostly women, regretted it was not enough... The different light. According to her, in Felshtyn, hatred against Moskals and Poles is weak, but it is they robbed and killed several Jewish families. mostly pointed against the Jews.62 Tsalevich eye-witnessed one of the murders herself. They were a father and two sons It is known that in Felshtyn district the swarm Bukivkers who were killed not far from their 65 60 Extracts from reports, 19 July 1941, house, and a mother was injured. ATsDVR (not compiled), ark. 1. Upon the whole, the main manpower of 61 Ibid. It is notable that the same attitudes were recorded by the members of the Nachtigall the PPH did not stay long on the territory battalion consisting of OUN(b) activists. Viktor of the Kamyanets-Podilskyi region, and Kharkiv, a commander of one of Nachtigall’s detachments, wrote in his autobiography about on 24 July 1941 they had to be around the events during transit through the Kamyanets- Vinnytsia.66 Parallel to this, the Land Podilskyi and Vinnytsia region: “During our march, we personally saw the victims of Jewish Bolshevik leadership (Kraiovyi provid) of the OUN(b) was terror. It intensified our hatred to Jews so much that in two villages we shot down all the Jews we came organized in Lviv and sent additional swarms across. I recall an episode. During our march, before to follow the PPH. One of them was headed by one village, we saw many wandering people. When asked, they replied that Jews were threatening them and they are afraid to sleep over in their homes. As a result, we shot down all the Jews we came across 63 S.-Chartoryiskyi. Vid Sianu po Krym: 129- there.”: Patryliak, Ivan. Viiskova diialnist OUN(b) 140. u 1940-1942 rokakh. Kyiv: Instytut istorii Ukrainy 64 Ibid., 139. NANU, 2004: 362 (the text is verified according to 65 Yad Vashem Archive (hereinafter – YVA), the original: TsDAVOV, f. 3833, op. 1, spr. 57, ark. O.3/3734, Etya Tsalevich. cf.: HDA SBU, f. 5, spr. 17). 66889, t. 3, ark. 67-67 rev. 62 Extracts from reports, 19 July 1941, 66 Order № 16, 19 July 1941, ATsDVR (not ATsDVR (not compiled), ark. 2. compiled), ark. 1.

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Volodymyr Zbrozhyk-“Bolotov.”67 In Chortkiv several more dozen arrivals enlisted in in the Ternopil region, they received blue and the militia or other entities in Kamyanets- yellow flags and arm bands as well as food, Podilskyi.71 Kozak instructed them to show up money, and armed security from a special at work on time and to “honestly and duly” unit established by the OUN(b) to help the fulfil their duties.72 Eventually, the OUN(b) “Eastern Action.” On 19 July 1941, they arrived managed to rather quickly cover with its in Kamyanets-Podilskyi where Zbrozhyk activities basically all southern districts of the took the position of the regional leader Kamyanets-Podilskyi region. In the district (oblasnyi providnyk) of the OUN(b). After they centers and villages, Ukrainian nationalists familizarized themselves with the situation in advocated the idea of Ukrainian statehood, the city, Ukrainian nationalists reported on created local authorities, such as militia the ethnic composition of the local population: units.73 Among other things, it helped them “60 % - Jews, 20 % - Moscowized Ukrainians, to successfully overcome their political 10 % - good Ukrainians, 10 % - Moskals.”68 On rivals from OUN(m) who were also trying 21 July 1941, the swarm “К1” also arrived in to expand their influence to the region. Kamyanets-Podilskyi, and its leader Kozak When a Bukovinian battalion (Bukovynskyi replaced Zbrozhyk in the position of regional kurin) arrived in Kamyanets-Podilskyi in the leader of the OUN(b).69 In the first place, they second half of August 1941 on the initiative started an active propaganda campaign. A local of the OUN(m), their activities were not only Ukrainian man, Ivan Marunchak, reporeted neutralized but several dozens members were about the first days of the Nazi occupation also drawn over to the side of the OUN(b).74 of Kamyanets-Podilskyi: “I also saw there Still during the movement of PPH, the first many different mottos, such as “Long Live conflicts emerged with the Nazi occupation Bandera!”, “Long Live Independent United authorities.75 Considering the suspicious Ukraine!”, “Glory to Ukrainian Nationalists!”, attitude towards their activities, Ukrainian “Long Live Adolf Hitler – Liberator from nationalists were forced to postpone the Bolshevism!”70 Ukrainian nationalists received implementation of a number of their initiatives. from the German occupant administration For instance, the military referent of a PPH, a permit to establish a Kamyanets-Podilskyi Metodiy Pavlyshyn-“Viktor Lisovskyi”, regional administration and militia. Zbrozhyk told that his duties initially included was appointed as commander of the regional militia. In fulfilling the Kozak’s orders to 71 Archive of the Security Service of Ukraine in Ternopil Region (Arkhiv upravlinnia seize local authorities and trying to address Sluzhby bezpeky Ukrainy v Ternopilskii oblasti – AUSBUTO), f. 5, spr. 32372, t. 1, ark. 130; Dziuban. all issues “from a nationalist standpoint,” Ukrainske derzhavotvorennia: 308-309, 313. 72 Ibid., ark. 13. Regarding the composition 67 TsDAVOV, f. 3833, op. 1, spr. 14, ark. 15. of swarm К1, see: Lysiak. “Day of 30 June”: 2; Order Regarding the composition of Zbrozhyk swarm, № 12, 15 July 1941, ATsDVR (not compiled), ark. 1. see: Ibid., ark. 34. 73 Marunchak, Ivan. Kurkulskyi nedobytok. 68 Ibid., ark. 15. Spohady. Kyiv: Vseukrainske tovarystvo 69 Ibid., ark. 13. Regarding the composition politychnykh viazniv i represovanykh, 2002: 62. of swarm К1, see: Lysiak. “Day of June, 30”: 2; 74 Archive of the Security Service of Order № 12, 15 July 1941, ATsDVR (not compiled), Ukraine in Ternopil Region (Arkhiv upravlinnia ark. 1. Sluzhby bezpeky Ukrainy v Ternopilskii oblasti – 70 Marunchak, Ivan. Kurkulskyi nedobytok. AUSBUTO), f. 5, spr. 32372, t. 1, ark. 130; Dziuban. Spohady. Kyiv: Vseukrainske tovarystvo Ukrainske derzhavotvorennia: 308-309, 313. politychnykh viazniv i represovanykh, 2002: 62. 75 TsDAVOV, f. 3833, op. 1, spr. 14, ark. 33.

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establishing the units so called “Sich” out of their literature and conducting any the volunteers of local population, as military propaganda activities in general. They garrisons on the district, county and regional were primarily expected to help with levels. They had to act as nuclei of the harvesting.79 “We are treated as mere future Ukrainian Army. During his stay in workforce. It was said that we only have to Ternopil in July 1941, Pavlyshyn received work but not to politicize” – complained a new order – not to create the “Sich” units, one of the intermediaries between the since the Germans had not recognized the Germans and the regional OUN(b) Ukrainian state, and therefore prohibited administration, Denys Prytuliak.80 On 29 the creation of any army.76 Despite this, the July 1941, Kozak anticipated that they would PPH members still created on the territory have to leave the territory of the Kamyanets- of the Kamyanets-Podilskyi regional units Podilskyi region, and emphasized the need to called “Sich,” which only had the militia more actively create a network organization.81 functions.77 After all, the local population His prognoses were not without any used to call the OUN(b) activists “Sich grounds. On 31 July 1941, Field-Commandant fighters” (sichovyky).78 Later, the contradictions Jozef Meiler informed the commanders further increased. In Kamyanets-Podilskyi, that Ukrainian nationalists arrived in Ukrainian nationalists banned printing Kamyanets-Podilskyi and tried to influence local authorities. “Please, provide clear 76 For example, regarding activities in instructions as soon as possible, - he wrote, the district centers Dunayivtsi and Orynyn, see: - whether we have to tolerate them here or AUSBUTO, f. 5, spr. 32372, t. 1, ark. 108-109, 114-115, 129 rev. -131 rev. For Stara Ushytsia, see: AUSBUTO, send them back to Lviv.”82 On 5 August 1941, f. 6, spr. 10634-P, ark. 14-14 rev., 16 rev. -17; Archive a secret order was issued to the 17th Army, of the Security Service of Ukraine in Khmelnytskyi Region (Arkhiv upravlinnia Sluzhby bezpeky obliging the prevention of the penetration of Ukrainy v Khmelnytskii oblasti – AUSBUKhO), f. 5, spr. 24118, ark. 33 rev.; Havryliuk, Osyp. “Ne skuie Ukrainian nationalists further into the regions dushi zhyvoi...” Ivano-Frankivsk: Nova Zoria, 2012: beyond Zbruch. They had to be detained and 93-99. 83 77 OUN Archive in Kyiv, f. 1, op. 2, spr. 440, promptly put in charge of the 1С division. ark. 20; Veryha, Vasyl. “Bukovynskyi kurin 1941”. In Kamyanets-Podilskyi, the actvitities of the Pid red. Kost Melnyk, Oleh Lashchenko ta Vasyl Veryha. Na zov Kyieva. Ukrainskyi natsionalizm u II OUN(b) activists were terminated within a svitovii viini: Zbirnyk stattei, spohadiv i dokumentiv. month upon their arrival in the city. Formal Toronto; New York: Vydavnytstvo “Novyi Shliakh”, 1985: 111; Duda, Andrii i Volodymyr Staryk. reasons for this were disputes over land and the Bukovynskyi kurin v boiakh za Ukrainsku derzhavnist activities of Ivan Nanenko, the then head of the 1918-1941-1944. Kyiv; Chernivtsi: Tovarystvo “Ukrainskyi narodnyi dim v Chernivtsiakh”, 1995: 78-79. 79 Dziuban. Ukrainske derzhavotvorennia: 78 308, 313. Oliinyk. “Borotba OUN-UPA”: 74-75. Local militia 80 Ibid., 313. men received blue and yellow armbands with the 81 Ibid., 308. ‘Sich” inscription. For example, see: AUSBUKhO, 82 Hoppe, Bert, und Hildrun Glass, bearb. f. 5, spr. 20499, ark. 17-17 rev.; University of Die Verfolgung und Ermordung der europäischen Southern California Shoah Foundation Institute Juden durch das nationalsozialistische Deutschland Visual History Archive (hereinafter – USC SFI 1933-1945. Band 7: Sowjetunion mit annektierten VHA), # 15814, Ilya Kelmanovich. Members of Gebieten I: Besetzte sowjetische Gebiete unter PPH also were wearing blue and yellow armbands: deutscher Militärverwaltung, Baltikum und HDA SBU, f. 5, spr. 66889, t. 3, ark. 8, 10; Dziuban. Transnistrien. Munich: Oldenburg Verlag, 2011: Ukrainske derzhavotvorennia: 378; Chubai. Reid 221. orhanizatoriv OUN: 20-21; Yaroslavskyi. “Vid 83 Dziuban. Ukrainske derzhavotvorennia: Sianu po Dinets”: 18. 378.

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Kamyanets-Podilskyi Land Administration. of August, 1941, local Jews were tossed Despite the fact that Nazi occupation into the ghetto.87 According to the available administration envisaged to preserve the testimonies, local militia men were engaged in collective farms system, the OUN(b) activists forced resettlements and custodial oversightof proceeded to liquidate the collective farms, the ghetto, and also in convoying the Jews to allocate the land, equipment and the from there to perform different jobs in the city collected harvest among the paesants. and beating them while doing so.88 Between 26 Nanenko, who was in charge of the land issue, and 28 August 1941, the command squadron requested explanations from Kozak but he of the supreme head of police and SS “Russia- replied that he was executing the orders of South” and the police battalion 320 shot down his Leadership. Nanenko then complained 23,600 local Jews in Kamyanets-Podilskyi, directly to the Field-Commandant Meiler, while Jews were also deported from Hungary. who ordered Ukrainian nationalists to At the time, it was the largest scale execution, leave the territory of the Kamyanets- while in the Holocaust historiography it Podilskyi region within 24 hours. is referred to as the one that marked the “I waged a fight with Banderovites for personal transition to the complete extermination of reasons, as I did not agree with their actions,” Jewish communities, not only some individual Nanenko later reported.84 categories.89 This evidently extended to the Activities of the OUN(b) in the southern mass killings of about 250 Hungarian Jews parts of the Kamyanets-Podilskyi region in Orynyn.90 On 30 August 1941, the same coincided with the initial stage of carrying 87 For more, see: Eikel, Markus, and out the Holocaust in the region. There are Valentina Sivaieva. “City Mayors, Rayon Chiefs testimonies that Hungarian soldiers forced and Village Elders in Ukraine”, 1941-4: How Local Administrators Co-operated with the German Jews to exhumate bodies of the victims of the Occupation Authorities”. Contemporary European History 23, № 3 (2014): 420-423. Soviet regime discovered in the Kamyanets- 88 AUSBUKhO, f. 5, spr. 984, ark. 13, 18-18 Podilskyi fortress.85 These events might be rev.; Ibid., spr. 20964, ark. 13 rev. -14; USC SFI VHA, # 15814, Ilya Kelmanovich. related to the mass killings that Zbrozhyk 89 For more, see: Mallmann, Klaus- swarm members witnessed on 20 July 1941, Michael. “Der qualitative Sprung im Vernichtungsprozess: Das Massaker von Kamenez- the second day after their arrival in the city: Podolsk Ende August 1941». Jahrbuch für “Magyars committed pogroms of Jews and Antisemitismusforschung 10 (2001): 239-264; Pohl, Dieter. “Schauplatz Ukraine: Der Massenmord shot down about 700 Jews.”86 In the beginning an den Juden im Militärverwaltungsgebiet und im Reichskommissariat 1941-1943”. Hrsg. von 84 AUSBUKhO, f. 6, spr. P-28095, t. 1, ark. Christian Hartmann, Johannes Hürter, Peter Lieb 30-32. On removing OUN(b) activists from und Dieter Pohl. Der deutsche Krieg im Osten Kamyanets-Podilskyi and the surrounding 1941-1944: Facetten einer Grenzüberschreitung. settlements, see also: AUSBUTO, f. 6, Oldenbourg: Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, spr. 10634-P, ark. 17-17 rev.; Havryliuk. “Ne 2009: 162-164. According to official reports, 4,200 skuie dushi zhyvoi...”: 99-102; Korbutiak, Jews were killed on August 26; 11,000 on August Dmytro. Vtecha do svobody. Spohady. Б. м.: Б. 27; 7,000 on August, 28. The report dated August в., 1999: 181; Marunchak. Kurkulskyi nedobytok: 30, 1941 specified that the total number of victims 64; TsDAVOV, f. 3836, op. 1, spr. 65, ark. 1. was 23,600 persons: Kruglov, Aleksandr. sost. 85 Marunchak. Kurkulskyi nedobytok: 63. Sbornik dokumentov i materialov ob unichtozhenii 86 TsDAVOV, f. 3833, op. 1, spr. 14, ark. 15. natsistami evreyev Ukrainy v 1941-1944 godakh. According to other data, 400 Jewish men were Kiyev: Institut iudaiki, 2002: 244-246. killed: Tenneblat, Bina. “Ya ostalas sovershenno 90 According to the available report, it was odna...”. Sost. Boris Zabarko. in Zhivymi ostalis obviously a consequence of activities of the same tolko my. Svidetelstva i dokumenty. Kiyev: Institut battalion 320 that on the same day it was busy iudaiki, 1999: 413. studying the locality and preparing fo action

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battalion 320 killed 2,200 Jews in Mynkivtsi, of Western Ukraine, mostly in the Ternopil and 380 more Jews on the next day in the region, too.94 In July 1941, a large group of such villages of Velykyi Zhvanchyk and Sokilets.91 activists arrived in Kamyanets-Podilskyi. It During the mass killings, the OUN(b) active included the 27-year-old Volodymyr Balatsko, core were displaced from the Kamyanets- a teacher from Tovste district. In August 1948, Podilskyi region. It is indicative, though, that he was arrested by Soviet special forces, and during the killings in Kamyanets-Podilskyi, during interrogations he gave a detailed Orynyn, Mynkivtsi, and Velykyi Zhvanchyk, account of what he was doing in summer the involvement of local collaborators was 1941, when appointed to the position of the documented, mostly those who were serving OUN(b) district leader (raionnyi providnyk). in the police stations.92 Along with the other four subordinates, Ivan Lesiv, Dmytro Antoshkiv, Tymko “No special order to exterminate the Jews Svynarchyn, and Oleksa Fedoryshyn, he left was issued by the OUN Top Leaders”: Anti- for the district center of Smotrych, northwards Jewish Violence in Smotrych and Kupyn from Kamyanets-Podilskyi. Upon arrival, they convened a meeting of local people The PPH members arriving in Kamyanets- and established a district administration Podilskyi region perceived an essential lack office, and a squad of “Sich” fighters headed of people needed to carry out their activities, by Kostiantyn Tsikhotskyi. The squad also especially in rural areas. In order to reduce registered two new arrivals, Svynarchyn and the load on the OUN(b) bodies that only were Fedoryshyn. Instead, Lesiv and Antoshkiv beginning to organize here, some districts became propagandists with the assignment of the Kamyanets-Podilskyi region, such as to organize local government in rural areas of Yarmolyntsi, were even put under direct the Smotrych district.95 After some time, the control of the neighbouring Ternopil region.93 OUN(b) regional headman Kozak informed Moreover, in order to reinforce the PPH Balatsko on the escalation of conflict with members with staff, there were plans to send the Nazi occupation administration and the OUN(b) activists recruited on the territory start of arrests of Ukrainian nationalists. After this, he started paying more attention to around Kamyanets-Podilskyi: Kruglov. Sbornik developing a covert network of OUN(b) and dokumentov: 246. 91 Kruglov. Sbornik dokumentov: 247-248. engaging local citizens for this purpose. The 92 For Kamyanets-Podilskyi, see: contact with them was established with the AUSBUKhO, f. 5, spr. 984, ark. 18 rev., 35-35 rev.; Ibid., spr. 20964, ark. 16 rev., 17 rev. -18; Shvartsman, password “Tempest” – “Hurricane.”96 Under Moysey. “Sam ne znayu kak ya vyzhil…”. Zabarko. Zhivymi ostalis tolko my: 483-484; Tenneblat. “Ya such conditions, their activities in Smotrych ostalas sovershenno odna...”: 413; USC SFI VHA, # lasted for about a month. 15814, Ilya Kelmanovich; Ibid, # 30287, Anna Gutsol. For Orynyn, see: AUSBUKhO, f. 5, spr. 24211, ark. In the end of July 1941, Balatsko returned 15-16 rev., 29. For Mynkivtsi, see: AUSBUkhO, f. 5, to Smotrych after a trip to rural areas and spr. 959, ark. 29; Grupman, Iosif. “Minkovetskikh evreyev ubivali politsai”. Pomni! Vospominaniya found in the town a combat group (boivka) o Kholokoste byvshikh uznikov natsistskikh getto of SB OUN(b) made up of five persons. A i kontslagerey. Rekhovot: s.n., 2013: 92-93. On Velykyi Zhvanchyk, see: YVA, O.3/8658, Pavlina Barak-Birnbaum. 94 Ibid., 225. 93 Dziuban. Ukrainske derzhavotvorennia: 95 AUSBUTO, f. 5, spr. 6980, ark. 58-59. 328. 96 Ibid., ark. 61-64, 70-72.

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commander of the combat group introduced Ukrainian nationalists, eye-witnesses also himself as a “Strila” and declared that while mentioned other participants in the pogrom, he was away he took the liberty “to manage such as “Sich” fighters Tsikhotskyi, Oleksiy things for a while,” that is to commit a Batiukevych, Hryhoriy Hrebeliuk, and Fedir Jewish pogrom by killing several persons. Nebesnyi. We managed to identify in the Archive of the Security Service of Ukraine in The ‘Strila’ told me, - Balatsko testified, - that he, Khmelnytskyi Region files on criminal cases as head of the combat group [of SB] of the Skalat for two of them – Batiukevych and Hrebeliuk. county administration of the OUN was specially None of them admitted their involvement designated to come to the eastern regions of Ukraine in the mass killings on the Smotrych river, to engage in activities to exterminate the Jews as even though eye-witnesses insisted on this propagators of Communist ideas.97 in both cases. Hrebeliuk even swore that the killings were executed only by Ukrainian On the next day, the combat group members nationalists.100 of SB, along with the local “Sich” fighters While the descriptions of circumstances of the committed another pogrom.98 During mass killings coincide in all available sources, interrogations, Balatsko did not provide the number of victims is not consistent therein. information about the methods used. During interrogations, Balatsko mentioned the However, the events could be reconstructed numbers of 80 or 100 persons.101 The number in detail due to other sources. According to 100 persons was also mentioned by the eye- them, the detained Jews were convoyed to witness Mykola Osadchuk.102 In later accounts, the suburbs of the town, to the Smotrych he mentioned that several hundred persons river, where they were put in two lines – were convoyed to the river, and ‘dozens of one with old people and men, and another dead bodies’ were later floating on it.103 Raissa one with women and children. According to Bidna testified in 1947 that 20 persons were some data, they were first forced to graze on forced into the river, and 10 of them were the shore, and then they were told to cross killed, but in 1960, she mentioned 100 and the river. Those who were able to were told 15 persons respectively.104 Basia Bohomolets they could go back home. People started (Perepletchikova) reported 20 casualties.105 making a row cry that was heard even in There were also injured persons.106 All bodies Smotrych. After that, they were fired upon. were collected by local people, loaded onto Some people managed to escape, while others carts, taken to a Jewish cemetery, and buried were shot down or drowned.99 In addition to in a mass grave.107

100 AUSBUKhO, f. 5, spr. 837, ark. 63 rev., 88, 97 AUSBUTO, f. 5, spr. 6980, ark. 65 rev. - 66 116 rev., 143 rev. -144. rev. 101 AUSBUTO, f. 5, spr 6980, ark. 15, 66 rev., 98 Ibid., 66 rev. 67. 99 Quoted based on: AUSBUTO, f. 5, spr. 102 Ibid., ark. 161. 6980, ark. 159 rev., 161; AUSBUKhO, f. 5, spr. 103 Shymanskyi. Knyha skorboty Ukrainy: 837, ark. 63, 88; Ibid., spr. 2544, ark. 25 rev. -26, 29 313. rev. -30, 34; Shymanskyi, I. red. Knyha skorboty 104 AUSBUKhO, f. 5, spr. 837, ark. 88, 210-211. Ukrainy: Khmelnytska oblast. vol. 1. Khmelnytskyi: 105 USC SFI VHA, # 27156, Basia Podillia, 2003: 313; YVA, O.48/273.25, Semyon Perepletchikova. Faingold; Yahad-In Unum Archive (hereinafter – 106 YIUA, # 659. YIUA), # 659; Ibid., # 651; USC SFI VHA, # 27156, 107 Shymanskyi. Knyha skorboty Ukrainy: Basia Perepletchikova. 313; YIUA, # 651.

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For several days after the mass killing, the still staying there in August 1941.110 Bohomolets family hid in the house of their In the beginning of August 1941, Balatsko acquaintance Nestor Kiyovskyi. When she sent a group of “Sich” fighters to the town returned home, Bohomolets had a talk with of Kupyn, Smotrych district, to proclaim the Ukrainian nationalists who claimed the Ukrainian state therein. Upon their return, following about the mass killings: “It was Fedoryshyn recounted that one of the local not us. It was the others.”108 Balatsko also Jews called him obscene names. Fedoryshyn stated during interrogations that all of it was then fired at him in response and wounded commited without any permission on his part. him in the neck.

Since I personally never received any orders on Since the group I sent came back after failing to organizing any Jewish pogroms, – he testified, – fulfil the assignment. [explained Balatsko] I on the next day I left for the city of Kamyanets- asked about the reason why it failed. I was told that Podilskyi to meet the leader Kozak. He answered the Jews who lived in the town of Kupyn resisted my question by stating that there were no special the ongoing activities.111 orders from the OUN Leadership to exterminate the Jews and that the issue of exterminating the He gathered an even larger group of “Sich” Jewish population was within the authority of the fighters, and left for Kupyn. They were Germans who actually committed the killings. The also joined by a Melnyk who had recently OUN only allowed the killing of Jews in cases when come to Smotrych with a yellow and blue they acted against the OUN or commited sabotage armband and the documents for the position of the organization’s ongoing activities.109 of gardening inspector of the Kamyanets- Podilskyi regional administration. He In fact, Kozak forwarded the message of the called himself an “authorized operative.”112 guidelines “Struggle and Activities of the Further events were described by Balatsko as OUN in Wartime” mentioned above that he follows: undoubtedly should have been aware as a member of the PPH. Kozak ordered Balatsko First, we wanted to search for the Jewish person who to immediately return to Smotrych and to send was wounded by Fedoryshyn but he disappeared. to him the “Strila.” But he was not available After that, we committed a Jewish pogrom. A any longer. Along with his combat group, he recently arrived Melnyk played an active role in was transferred to another district. Due to the the pogrom. He used to live in the town of Kupyn abovementioned events, Balatsko arranged and was well aware of the location and addresses of with the director of the sugar factory in the the Jews. During the pogrom, about fifty persons town of Vyshnivchyk (Smotrych district), 110 Ibid., ark. 67. Symko was executed in Fedir Symko, whom he enrolled as a OUN(b) March 1943, along with all of his family.: D. Kys. member, and with the head of the Judenrat in [Kyslytsia, Dmytro]. “Pryiazn mizh Kovpakom i E. Kokhom. Z podii 1943 roku na Podilli“. Na Smotrych, Tsukerman, to send local Jews to Storozhi, № 3-4 (1948): 14. the sugar factory. According to him, they were 111 AUSBUTO, f. 5, spr. 6980, ark. 67-67 rev. 112 It is most probably about Leontiy Melnyk from Kupyn who was referred to by the fellow 108 USC SFI VHA, # 27156, Basia Perepletchi- villagers as a “Ukrainian nationalist”: AUSBUKhO, kova. f. 5, spr. 22744, ark. 88 rev.; Ibid., spr. 23683, ark. 44, 109 AUSBUTO, f. 5, spr. 6980, ark. 66 rev. -67. 47 rev., 52 rev., 59.

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of Jewish origin were gathered, who were further with the principle of collective responsibility forced into the river and fired at.113 that the OUN(b) was publicly declaring at the time.118 At the same time, it is doubtful Among participants of the mass killing, he that the Kupyn Jews could actually manifest mentioned the “Sich” fighters Antoshkiv, any resistance at all, and whether the case Fedoryshyn, Tsikhotskyi, Nebesnyi, Stakh recounted by Fedoryshyn took place at all. Vitkovskyi, Zayets, a.o.114 It is known that at that time, in Kupyn, local Just like with the mass killings in Smotrych, authorities had been created, which also Balatsko mentioned different numbers of included a squad of “Sich” headed by Anton casualties in Kupyn during interrogations, Bobrovskyi.119 Under such circumstances, the reporting either 10 or 50 persons. He admitted Jewish community could hardly be an actual that the exact number of murdered persons part of the local community. could not be known to him, since it all took It is also notable that in both Smotrych and place in the evening and it was dark outside.115 Kupyn, mass killings were committed in a Criminal cases for the “Sich” fighters from similar manner – Jews were forced to the river Kupyn that we managed to identify in the where some of them drowned and others Khmelnytskyi SBU Archive do not offer were shot down. In the many centuries of any reasonable grounds to specify the history of anti-Jewish violence, such cases circumstances of the events. The documents were first related to forced baptisms, or rather confirm the arrival in the town of a group of punishment for rejecting to do so.120 On the Ukrainian nationalists and Smotrych “Sich” territory of the present day Ukraine, the fighters in the beginning of August 1941. A cases of drowning of Jews were first clearly witness claimed they detained a group of documented during the Cossack unrest of the Kupyn Komsomol members and Jews, who 17th century.121. However, most evidence comes were forced to the river and victimized there.116 from the period of mass pogroms starting in The facts about the nature of victimization as 1918 and lasting into the 1920s. Such cases well as the number of persons killed as a result are often related to porgrom activities of the cannot be found in the available evidence. 118 The orders disseminated since the Only the murders of a Jewish man Zeide and beginning of July 1941 by the Land leader of OUN(b), Komsomol members Ivan Varshavskyi and Klymiv, introduced the notion of “collective responsibility (by family and by ethnicity) for all Kazymyr Vyshnevskyi are mentioned.117 offenses to the Ukrainian Army and Ukrainian On the whole, Balatsko most probably state”: Dziuban. Ukrainske derzhavotvorennia: 131. regarded his actions as the punishment of 119 AUSBUKhO, f. 5, spr. 2297, ark. 17-17 rev.; Ibid., spr. 23683, ark. 44-44 rev., 51 rev. Kupyn Jews for “sabotaging the activities of 120 Klier, John Doyle. “The Pogrom Paradigm the organization,” in compliance with the in Russian History”. Ed. by John Doyle Klier and Shlomo Lambroza. Pogroms: Anti-Jewish Violence orders received from Kozak. It was fully in line in Modern Russian History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992: 13. 121 Yakovenko, Nataliia Red. Hlybokyi mul. 113 AUSBUTO, f. 5, spr. 6980, ark. 67 rev. Khronika Natana Hanovera. Kyiv: Dukh i litera, 114 Ibid., ark. 22 rev. -23, 72 rev., 74. 2010: 102; Sukhykh, Lidiia and Viktor Strashko, 115 Ibid., ark. 15, 22 rev., 67 rev. upor. Natsionalno-vyzvolna viina v Ukraini 1648- 116 AUSBUKhO, f. 5, spr. 22744, ark. 88 rev. 1657. Zbirnyk za dokumentamy aktovykh knyh. 117 Ibid., spr. 2297, ark. 17 rev. -18; Ibid., spr. Kyiv: Derzhavnyi komitet arkhiviv Ukrainy; 22744, ark. 41 rev., 87, 88 rev. -89, 118 rev. -120; Ibid., TsDIAK, 2008: 123-124; Spector and Wigoder. The spr. 23683, ark. 45. Encyclopedia of Jewish Life. Vol. II: 667.

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insurgent headman Ilko Struk, for example tomorrow...” from a Soviet film with the same the several days of violence committed by name. Afterwards Batiukevych mocked them: his subordinates in spring 1919 in the town “Not all the Soviet people would take a stand, of Chornobyl. In fact, the expression “to but all the Jews people would stand for the the river” was increasingly understood by freedom of the homeland.”125 the Jews as the threat of imminent death.122 Anti-Jewish violence in Smotrych and Kupyn During anti-Jewish massacres in summer resulted from a number of factors. The fast 1941, cases of mass killings by drowning advance of the German troops at the start were not uncommon. They are recorded on of war created a certain power vacuum. quite a large territory, including East Galicia, The active core of the OUN(b) took this Northern Bukovina, and Volhynian Polissia opportunity to spread their influence to the as well.123 Jews were forced to graze like cattle previously inaccessible areas, trying to take during the pogrom in the town of Olevsk.124 control over establishing local authorities Such attempts to humiliate victims as much as and determining their further functioning. possible and to dehumanize them to animals The local population would also often ask for were fully in line with the position of the help from Ukrainian nationalists in various perpetrators as they could regard their actions ways since they were disoriented due to the as a sort of “revenge” for their own suffering, new reality of the occupation regime.126 Even real or alleged, from the Soviet regime that after the start of the conflict with the Nazi was associated with the Jews. According to occupation administration, they managed one of the witnesses, local “Sich” fighters to legally operate for some time in rural tried to stage overexaggerated theatrical anti- areas far away from big cities. The fact that Jewish violence in Smotrych before the mass in parallel they continued to persecute local killing. Once they rounded up older Jews and Jews implies they were also implementing made them sing the song “If the war comes their own policies not related to the Holocaust policy or trying to win some trust from the 122 Milyakova, Lidiya. red. Kniga pogromov. 127 Pogromy na Ukraine, v Belorussii i evropeyskoy Germans to this end. Moreover, none of chasti Rossii v period Grazhdanskoy voyny, 1918- the available testimonies have any records 1922 gg. Sbornik dokumentov. Moskva: ROSSPEN, 2007: 95-98, 100, 102, 110-111. More about Struk, see: on the participation or presence of the Nazi Gilley, Christopher. “The Ukrainian Anti-Bolshevik occupation administration during mass Risings of Spring and Summer 1919: Intellectual History in a Space of Violence.” Revolutionary killings in Smotrych and Kupyn. That is why Russia 27, № 2 (2014): 109-131. the events also should be considered in the 123 Razenblat, Jawgjen. “Stawljen’nje pol’skaga i bjelaruskaga nasjel’nictva da gabrejaw context of the planned violence against ethnic na Paljes’si w pjershyja tydni pas’lja napadu Njamjechchyny na Savjecki Sajuz’’. ARCHE, № minorities OUN(b) contrived back in spring 5 (2010): 568-569; Kruglov, Umanskiy i Shchupak. 1941. Despite the fact that pogroms as a method Kholokost v Ukraine: 111; Spector and Wigoder. The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life. Vol. I: 557, 570; Struve. Deutsche Herrschaft: 654-661. On similar 125 AUSBUKhO, f. 5, spr. 2544, ark. 29-29 rev. cases after summer 1941, see: Spector and Wigoder. See also: Shymanskyi. Knyha skorboty Ukrainy: The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life. Vol. II: 591, 850, 313. 1058. 126 Ibid., spr. 6980, ark. 65 rev.; USC SFI VHA, 124 McBride, Jared. “Ukrainian Holocaust # 27156, Basia Perepletchikova. Perpetrators Are Being Honored in Place of Their 127 Such an explanation of the involvement of Victims.” Tablet. June 20, 2016. http://www. OUN(b) activists in carrying out the Jewish pogrom tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/208439/ in Lviv in the beginning of July 1941 is offered by holocaust-perpetrators-honored John Paul Himka: Himka. “The Lviv Pogrom”: 234.

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were not stipulated, the ambiguous wording own backgrounds, skills, or even intuition. of the policy documents and guidelines of the As for Balatsko, it is known that he became OUN(b) regarding “fighting”, “cleansing”, involved with the nationalist ideas back in “liquidation” could be treated differently his teen years. In 1930, he became a member by the lower level leaders. This was even of the Youth Section of the OUN. In 1934, he more the case when they were followed by was sentenced to 18 months in prison for that. anti-Semitic propaganda and the approval Afterwards, Balatsko resumed his cooperation of the principle of collective responsibility. with Ukrainian nationalists for a short time That is why, considering the conditions of until he definitively took an oath in July 1941 the summer 1941, there were people among and became an OUN(b) member, nicknamed Ukrainian nationalists who were both ready to “Lulka” (Smoking Pipe).130 In the 1930s, he kill all Jews without exception and opponents read the underground magazines “Bulletin of such methods. It is obvious that both were of the OUN Land Leadership” (“Biuleten acting in line with the guidelines received from Kraiovoi Ekzekutyvy OUN”), “Surma”, above. In his analysis of the developments and “Nation Development” (“Rozbudova of “Ukrainian National State-Building”, the Natsii”); “Nationalism” by Dmytro Dontsov, author pen-named “M. Homin,” wrote about “Kholodnyi Yar” (Cold Ravine) by Yuriy them rather critically in summer of 1942. Horlis-Horskyi, etc.131 The experience must Among other things, he complained about the have shaped a major argument when he was following: granted the position of district leader of the OUN(b) in July 1941 in Kamyanets-Podilskyi. With regard to Jews, we had had a rather clear Hardly anything is known about the other obliging principle long before the war that we persons arriving along with him. At least treat them quite inimically, but do not engage one of them, Antoshkiv, had been a OUN(b) in any pogroms. However, there were still cases member since 1940.132 The fact that they had when some politically immature Ukrainian been actively involved in the organization’s elements let themselves become involved in pogrom activities in the period of the greatest operations.128 radicalization towards the Jewish minority could effect their own convictions. Bohomolets It is clear that those persons who were hastily recounted that Ukrainian nationalists spread recruited, just like Balatsko, on the territory of anti-Semitic propaganda in Smotrych.133 In Western Ukraine and sent to the Kamyanets- addition, other persons, who were not OUN(b) Podilskyi region did not have any special members, were also sent to the Kamyanets- training such as that of PPH members. Their background was limited to briefings only.129 130 AUSBUTO, f. 5, spr. 6980, ark. 14 rev., 16 rev. - 19 rev., 30-45. For the arrest and court Therefore, many things depended on their hearing for the Balatsko case, see also: Dilo, № 346 (1933): 4; Ibid., № 35 (1934): 7; Mirchuk, Petro. 128 HDA SBU, f. 13, spr. 372, t. 24, ark. 114. Narys istorii Orhanizatsii Ukrainskykh Natsionalistiv. 129 AUSBUTO, f. 5, spr. 6980, ark. 20, 50 rev. vol. 1. Munich; London; New York: Ukrainske -51; See also testimonies by Osyp Havryliuk who Vydavnytstvo, 1968: 416, 421. arrived to Kamyanets-Podilskyi in the same group 131 Ibid., ark. 31-31 rev., 39 rev. - 40; Dilo, № with Balatsko and was further sent as a district 35 (1934): 7. leader of the OUN(b) to the town of Stara Ushytsia: 132 AUSBUTO, f. 5, spr. 6980, ark. 170. AUSBUTO, f. 6, spr. 10634-P, ark. 16-16 rev., 26 rev. 133 USC SFI VHA, # 27156, Basia Pereplet- -27, 41; Havryliuk. “Ne skuie dushi zhyvoi...’“: 87. chikova.

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Podilskyi region. Their task was to serve in the the witnesses informed that he arrived to “Sich” only. Among the Balatsko subordinates, Smotrych wearing plain peasant clothes, but this included Fedoryshyn.134 soon after he possessed many suits plundered We failed to identify whether anyone of them from the Jews.139 It is notable that in the report had already been involved in anti-Jewish of the OUN(b) underground on the situation violence in Western Ukraine. Balatsko testified in Kamyanets-Podilskyi region dated August that he was aware of the killings of Jews by 1942, the results of activities of Ukrainian OUN(b) activists in the villages of Anhelivka nationalists in summer 1941 were quite and Tsapivka of the Tovste district.135 Similar criticized. In particular, they were reproached events took place in the nearby settlements. for the lack of the due staff: By contrast, in the district center of Tovste, the pogrom was prevented by a group of local There were many small men who were going activists, among them Ukrainian nationalist to the eastern region in search of gains. That is Stepan Andrushchyshyn.136 Despite such cases, why we carried out different kinds of disgraceful it was more common for this period to witness robberies, executions, arrests, and the like there. It the brutalization of methods and activities is obvious that all of that had an impact on the local and to take revenge on everyone identified population.140 as enemies. For instance, at interrogations, Balatsko repeated the words Kateryna The regional headman of OUN(b), Kozak, Liakhovetska - “Halychanka” told him. She back in July 1941, complained about his was one of the members of the combat group predecessor Zbrozhyk, who later became a of SB under “Strila”: “Liakhovetska boasted to regional commander of police, claiming he me that despite being a woman she was able to was a kind of person who “was not merely kill a person who turned out to be her personal fond of dressing up exotically, but pulling enemy or an enemy of her nation.”137 clothes together from everywhere.”141 However, it would be naive to believe that The material component of anti-Jewish the activities of Ukrainian nationalists were violence was also an important motivation for only motivated by ideological reasons. The the local population of Smotrych and Kupyn available testimonies prove that they were to become involved in the first place, in also actively pillaging Jewish property and particular the “Sich” fighters. Balatsko talked were supposedly sending it back home to about Tsikhotskyi and Nebesnyi as those who Western Ukraine.138 As for Balatsko, one of were most actively involved in robberies. They even ignored his warnings against doing so.142 134 AUSBUTI, f. 5, spr. 6980, ark. 50 rev. -51, 52. On the whole, they tried to enroll the 135 Ibid., ark. 47-48 rev. anti-Soviet local citizens into the “Sich.” 136 See more at: Struve. Deutsche Herrschaft: 554-555; Zbikowski, Andrzej. “Anti-Jewish Pogroms Therefore, it is not surprising that the “Sich” in Occupied Territories of Eastern Poland, June- fighters would publicly claim that they had July 1941.” Ed. by Lucjan Dobroszycki and Jeffrey S. Gurock. The Holocaust in the Soviet Union: Studies and Sources on the Destruction of the Jews in the Nazi- 139 AUSBUTO, f. 5, spr. 6980, ark. 67, 155 rev. Occupied Territories of the USSR, 1941-1945. Armonk: -156, 159 rev. M. E. Sharpe, 1993: 179. For Andrushchyshyn, see: 140 Dziuban. Ukrainske derzhavotvorennia: 451- Klymenko and Tkachov. Ukraintsi v politsii: 66. 452, 454. 137 AUSBUTO, f. 5, spr. 6980, ark. 76. 141 TsDAVOV, f. 3833, op. 1, spr. 14, ark. 13. 138 AUSBUKhO, f. 5, spr. 2544, ark. 16. 142 AUSBUTO, f. 5, spr. 6980, ark. 72 rev., 74.

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awaited the arrival of German troops for many before, they stopped obeying him. When years, that they had disseminated anti-Soviet Balatsko left Smotrych at risk of arrest in literature, and even committed sabotage such August 1941, Tsikhotskyi and the group of as poisoning horses from collective farms.143 other “Sich” fighters tried to stop him and However, it is unknown how truthful their hand him over to the Germans.146 With respect statements were. It is probable that in most to local comabatnts involved in anti-Jewish cases they were just saying something that violence, it is important to understand that was most beneficial for them under the current some of them had anti-Soviet attitudes closely circumstances. In fact, their biographies followed by open anti-Semitic attitudes. One appear more complicated and controversial. of the fellow villagers told about the former For instance, Tsikhotskyi told that he used to “Sich” commander Bobrovskyi from Kupyn: study in the Youth School of the Ukrainian People’s Republic Army in Kamyanets- At roughly every meeting, Bobrovskyi would Podilskyi, was persecuted by Soviet secret intimidate residents of our village with the threat units, but at the same time was cautious to of Red Terror. He would say that when Soviet speak out about his past to the Germans. In rule comes to Ukraine the Jews would abuse and order to save himself, he reportedly gave away mistreat Ukrainian people again.147 his own father who was banished to Siberia.144 Nebesnyi told about being involved with the Batiukevych was also described in the same Union for the Liberation of Ukraine (Spilka vein. At the same time, before the war he used vyzvolennia Ukrainy – SVU). Before the war, to live nearby the Jewish families and was on he worked as a carpenter in the NKVD in the good terms with them.148 Drohobych region. “He seems to be a smart It is obvious that the range of motivations and clever person, - Balatsko described him, - of immediate perpetrators of mass killings he was always happy about everything, always in Smotrych and Kupyn was quite wide. satisfied with everything.”145 It is obvious that There were certain differences between he realized the frequent hypocrisy of such the newcoming Ukrainian nationalists revelations. That is why he had not accepted and their local assistants, for example in any of the mentioned persons as OUN(b) terms of ideological or political convictions. members. After all, his influence on local Nonetheless, they shared the urge to benefit “Sich” fighters was rather nominal. As soon from the Jewish possessions. Both of them as they stopped seeing him as a representative actively indulged in such opportunities. of occupation authorities, as they believed The radicalization of the OUN(b) towards the Jewish community culminating in 1940/41 143 YVA, O.48/273.25, Semyon Faingold. resulted in plans to be implemented upon 144 AUSBUTO, f. 5, spr. 6980, ark. 72-73. 145 Ibid., ark. 74. Balatsko was also informed the start of the war between the Third Reich by other persons about their belonging to or connections with the SVU. Current research proves that no such organization existed. It was 146 AUSBUTO, f. 5, spr. 6980, ark. 72. invented by Soviet secret services as the basis Eventually, Tsikhotskyi was executed along with for repressions of prospective opponents of the his family, in December, 1942.: AUSBUKhO, f. 5, regime: Prokopchuk, Viktor. “Kamianets-Podilska spr. 837, ark. 15, 30 rev.; Shymanskyi. Knyha skorboty filiia ‘Spilky vyzvolennia Ukrainy“: do istorii Ukrainy: 356. falsyfikatsii». Z arkhiviv VUChK-HPU-NKVD-KHB, 147 AUSBUKhO, f. 5, spr. 2297, ark. 22 rev. № 1-2 (2013): 126-145. 148 Ibid., spr. 2544, ark. 16, 25 rev., 33 rev.

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and the Soviet Union. The plans stipulated to the currently available approaches to the mass violence against the ethnic minorities causes and nature of anti-Jewish violence in recognized to be potentially disloyal, including the first months of the Nazi occupation. the Jews. The marching groups of OUN(b) who were commissioned to spread the influence of Ukrainian nationalism in the earlier inaccessible regions of Ukraine directly were involved in violent acts. Local citizens also About the author played an impotant role there. The context of Andrіy Usach is a Ph.D. student in History at the pogroms in Smotrych and Kupyn in July- the Ukrainian Catholic University and works August 1941 was slightly different than what as a research fellow at the Memorial Museum research analyses reveal about similar cases „Territory of Terror“ (L‘viv, Ukraine). He in Western Ukraine. Here, they were neither is currently working on PhD dissertation directly preceded by mass killings of prisoners „Local Collaboration and the Holocaust in committed by the NKVD nor inspired by Nazi-Occupied Ukraine: Kreisgebiet Bar, Germans. It goes beyond any doubt that the 1941-1944.“ under the supervision of Prof. OUN(b) activists were organizers of the two Oleksandr Zaitsev. His academic interests pogroms, which is also confirmed by the use include: the Nazi occupation regime in of the same method of mass execution. Further Ukraine, the Holocaust, the role of local research on similar cases taking place beyond collaborators in persecution of Jews, the post- Western Ukraine could add more insights war trials of the perpetrators of the Holocaust in the USSR.

Euxeinos, Vol. 9, No. 27 / 2019 84 Women’s Body as Battlefield: Sexual Violence during Soviet Сounterinsurgency in Western Ukraine in the 1944-19531

by Marta Havryshko

Abstract The article focuses on sexual/ized violence experienced by the female members of Ukrainian nationalist underground, its sympathizers, and civilians during Soviet counterinsurgency in Western Ukraine in the late Stalinist period. It reveals the purpose, types, and implications of sexual assaults on women suspected in collaboration with OUN and UPA during anti-partisan military and state security operations, interrogation process, recruitment to work for Soviet intelligence agencies, as well as in the prisons, and other places of detention. The article explores how the Soviet justice system tackled criminal investigations of sexual violence by members of the militia, NKVD-MVD-NKGB-MGB, Internal Troops, special military units (spetsgrupy), and other perpetrators. It examines whether the measures taken by the Soviet officials in order to prevent violence and to punish transgressors were sufficient. The paper argues that sexual crimes and brutalization of women’s bodies were an intrinsic part of the state violent practices against anti-Soviet armed resistance, and a by-product of the continuum of political violence in Western Ukraine in the decade after the Second World War.

Keywords: sexual violence, rape, Soviet counterinsurgency, OUN, UPA, NKVD, perpetrators, justice

Introduction encouraged them to solicit their husbands and sons “to come out of the woods.”3 The fter the expulsion of1 the Nazi authorities significance of engaging women into the Afrom Western Ukraine in 1944, the Soviet struggle of anti-Soviet resistance movement regime started a cruel struggle against the is stipulated in the Resolution of the Political underground of the Organization of Ukrainian Bureau of the Central Committee of the Nationalists (OUN)2 and the Ukrainian Communist Party of Bolsheviks of Ukraine, Insurgent Army (UPA). One of the important dated 5 April 1945.4 At the same time, women tools of this struggle was mass propaganda were not only the objects of ideological largely targeting women. Soviet authorities, as influence but also of different violent represented by Party and Komsomol activists, practices. The wave of political terror and addressed women at different meetings and repressions engulfed Western Ukraine. The authorities became involved in the war with 1 I would like to thank reviewers and the OUN and UPA underground, the border Euxeinos editorial team for helpful commentary guard and internal forces of NKVD, active and editing suggestions. My research benefited from the research grant of the Canadian Institute units of the Red Army, detachments of local of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Alberta (the Petro Chornyj Memorial Endowment Fund 3 Haluzevyi derzhavnyi arkhiv Sluzhby and the Yuchymenko Family Endowment Fund), bezpeky Ukrainy (HDA SBU) [Sectoral State scholarship conferred by the German Academic Archive of the Security Service of Ukraine], fond Exchange Service (DAAD), and Ada Booth Research 13, sprava 376, tom 75, arkush 226. Fellowship in Slavic Studies at Monash University. 4 Litopys UPA. Nova seriia. Tom 3: Borotba 2 This article will only describe the so- proty UPA i natsionalistychnoho pidpillia: dyrektyvni called Bandera wing of the Ukrainian nationalist dokumenty TsK Kompartii Ukrainy. 1943–1959, eds. underground – OUN(B), named after Stepan Yu. Cherchenko, O. Vovk, I. Pavlenko (Kyiv; Bandera. Toronto: Litopys UPA, 2001), 152.

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air bases, operational battalions (first formed called agenturno-boevyie grupy or spetsgrupy).9 in 1944 from the local population), forces While many academic researchers analyze of NKVD of USSR on security of railways, the methods, forms, and scale of the struggle operational staff of the raiiondepartments of the Soviet authorities against the OUN (raiionni viddily, RV) NKVD and NKGB.5 In and UPA,10 gender aspects are marginalized. the period between 1 December 1945 and Jeffrey Burds was the first author who 10 February 1946, 15,562 military and state focused on the role of women in the covert security operations were conducted, resulting intelligence work of Soviet security services, in the murder of 4,200 persons, the arrest of such as in large special operations against the 9,400 persons, and the seizure of different underground leaders and the UPA. He also kinds of weapons.6 In addition, it was common traced violence against women in the midst of to conduct mass evictions of family members OUN provoked by mass arrests of women by of the underground fighters (who were Soviet authorities.11 Olena Petrenko defined executed or imprisoned) and their supporters mechanisms of recruiting women agents to the remote areas of the Soviet Union. In the by Soviet special services, and the gender period from 1944 to 1953, Soviet authorities peculiarities of their operations.12 There is exterminated 153,000 members and supporters also research on one of the best known Soviet of the underground, arrested 134,000 and female agents, Liudmyla Foia.13 Some aspects deported about 204,000 persons.7 It might be assumed that a large part of those convicted 9 See more in: Djefri Burds, Sovetskaya for “counterrevolutionary activities” and agentura. Ocherki voennoy istorii SSSR v poslevoennyie gody (1944–1948) (Moskwa; Niu-York, 2006); “engagement with the counterrevolutionary Dmytro Viedienieiev, Hennadii Bystrukhin, organizations” (art. 54 1а, and 54-11 of “Povstanska rozvidka diie tochno i vidvazhno…,” in Dokumentalna spadshchyna pidrozdiliv spetsialnoho the Criminal Code of USSR, respectively) pryznachennia OUN ta UPA. 1940–1950-ti roky (Kyiv: K.I.S., 2006); Dmytro Viedienieiev, Hennadii were women. For instance, in 1946, they Bystrukhin, Dvobii bez kompromisiv. Protyborstvo accounted for 60%.8 Another method of spetspidrozdiliv OUN ta radianskykh syl spetsoperatsii 1945–1980-ti roky (Kyiv: K.I.S., 2007). counterinsurgency struggle practiced by 10 See selectively: Yurii Shapoval, “Viina Soviet special services was to create secret pislia viiny,” Voienna istoriia, No 5-6 (2002): 59-84; Alexander Statiev, The Soviet Counterinsurgency agent networks and special military units (so- in the Western Borderlands (Cambridge & New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010); Ivan 5 Mykhailo Romaniuk, Zolochivska okruha Patryliak, “Vstan i borys! Slukhai i vir...” Ukrainske OUN u natsionalno-vyzvolnomu rusi (1937-1953), natsionalischtyne pidpillia ta povstanskyi rukh (1939- (Lviv: In-t ukrainoznavstva im. I. Krypiakevycha 1960 rr.) (L’viv: Chasopys, 2012); Tamara Vronska, NANU: Tsentr nezalezhnykh istorychnykh studii, Upokorennia strakhom: simeine zaruchnytstvo u 2016): 188-189. karalnii praktytsi radianskoi vlady (1917-1953 rr.) 6 Litopys UPA. Nova seriia. Tom 5: Borotba (Kyiv: Tempora, 2013). proty UPA i natsionalistychnoho pidpillia: informatsiini 11 Dzhefri Burds, “Moskal’ki”: zhenshchiny- dokumenty TsK KP(b)U‚ obkomiv partii‚ NKVS–MVS‚ agenty i nacionalisticheskoe podpol’e na Zapadnoj MDB–KDB (1943–1959). Knyha druha: 1946–1947 Ukraine, 1944— 1948,” Social’naya Istoriya. (Kyiv; Toronto: Litopys UPA, 2002), 12. Ezhegodnik’2004 (Moskva: ROSSPEHN, 2004): 300- 7 Lavrentii Beriia. 1953. Stenogramma 339. iulskogo plenuma TsK KPSS i drugie dokumenty, ed. 12 Olena Petrenko, “Instrumentalizatsiia A. N. Iakovleva (Moscow: MFD, 1999), 47. strakhu. Vykorystannia radianskymy ta polskymy 8 See: “Protokol narady sekretariv obkomiv, orhanamy bezpeky zhinok-ahentiv u borotbi i nachalnykiv oblupravlin MHB u zakhidnykh proty ukrainskoho natsionalistychnoho pidpillia,” oblastei URSR . Lviv. 23.04.1947,” in Litopys Ukraina Moderna. № 18 (7) (2011.): 141-167. neskorenoi Ukrainy: Dokumenty, materialy, spohady. 13 Volodymyr Ivanchenko, Kvitka u Knyha druha, ed. Yaroslav Lialka (Lviv: Halytska chervonomu pekli: zhyttievyi shliakh Liudmyly Foi vydavnycha spilka, 1997), 299. (Toronto; Lviv: Litopys UPA, 2009).

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of gender-based violence of Soviet authorities practices against women in the GULAG against female underground fighters are (such as sexual violence by administrators, covered by Larysa Zarichniak.14 However, guards, and fellow prisoners).16 They were despite the increasing number of studies, the obviously one of the forms of punitive problem of sexual violence in the context of repressive measures against members of the opposition of Soviet authorities against OUN anti-Soviet resistance movement but did not and UPA is largely understudied. My key have any direct effect on the practices of the research questions are: What is the role of Ukrainian nationalist underground. Violence female bodies and sexuality in the struggle against women taking place in Western of Soviet authorities against Ukrainian Ukraine (the OUN underground was mostly nationalist underground? Was sexual violence functioning and witnessing the violence) against women a tool in this war? had a huge impact on its strategy and tactics. The article makes a first attempt to analyze Information on the violence spread within the different forms of sexual violence against OUN environment through reporting, letters, women in the broader context of the struggle information accounts, stories, rumors, and of Soviet authorities against the Ukrainian victims’ testimonies. No less important for nationalist underground in Western Ukraine spreading information on everyday routines between 1944 and 1953.15 It reflects on the for women in Soviet prisons at pretrial political meaning of this violence and its proceedings were stories from the women’s impact on the underground of OUN and cellmates, their family and friends who came UPA. Moreover, the article focuses on the to see them. The state-backed terror against consequences of violence for the victimized women reflected not only the power and rage women, and on their reflections on the of Soviet authorities, but also weakness and traumatic experience. The study claims helplessness of the underground who were not that sexual violence against women was able to interfere in any way. Hence, numerous an intrinsic part of the war of the Soviet cases of gender-based violence were also a authorities against their opponents, and a by- powerful psychological weapon against the product of continuum of violence created by OUN underground. It is related to a symbolic WWII as well as activities of the Ukrainian meaning of the female body in a nationalist nationalist underground and Soviet repressive discourse. Feminist scholars emphasize that in policy in Western Ukraine afterwards. It must nationalist narratives, a female body functions be noted that the subject matter of the research as a symbol of the nation, of the homeland, in this publication does not include violent and its territory. By contrast, the virginity of

14 Larysa Zariczniak, “Violence and the UPA 16 See more on sexual violence in GULAG: Woman: Experiences and Influences,” Ievropeis’ki Helene Celmina, Women In Soviet Prisons (New istorychni studii, No 2 (2015): 243-267. York: Paragon House Publishers, 1985); Veronica 15 On gender-based violence (including Shapovalov, Remembering the Darkness: Women in sexual violence) against the “enemy” women Soviet Prisons (New York: Rowman and Littlefield perpetrated by members of OUN and UPA, see: Publishers, 2001); Ann Applebaum, Gulag: A Marta Havryshko, “Love and Sex in Wartime: History (New York: Doubleday, 2003); Jehanne M Controlling Women’s Sexuality in the Ukrainian Gheith, Katherine R. Jolluck, Gulag Voices: Oral Nationalist Underground,” Aspasia Vol. 12 (2018): Histories of Soviet Incarceration and Exile (New York: 35-67; Marta Havryshko,“Choloviky, zhinky i Palgrave MacMillan, 2011); Oksana Kis, Ukrainky nasyl’stvo v OUN i UPA u 1940–1950-kh rokakh,” v HULAHU: vyzhyty – znachyt peremohty (Lviv: Ukrainskyi istorychnyi zhurnal No. 4 (2016): 89–107. Instytut narodoznavstva NANU, 2017).

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a woman’s body is a symbol of the integrity Based on such records, we can learn about of borders. That is why the rape of a woman’s the circumstances of rapes of women, their body is treated as violating the body of the names, age, social background, and more. nation and undermining the honor of those The drawback of the reports is that it is not who defend it, of men who defend their always feasible to identify the perpetrators. In territory, their homeland, and their women.17 all cases, when members of the underground The research is based on a wide range of a variety had no clear data on the perpetrators, they resources. It is not odd to see most data on the were referred to as “Bolsheviks.” According rape of women during the counterinsurgency to the documents, they pertained to members struggle of Soviet authorities in the report of militia, law enforcement, and punitive documentation of the OUN who were trying repressive entities of Soviet authorities (most to use the facts in their propaganda.18 For often of NKVD-NKGB, MVD-MGB). The instance, in the so called “Terenovi Vistky” underground documents differentiate the (Field News), “Informatsiyi z terenu” (News victims by age, muzhatka (married woman) or from the Fields) they recorded all the events a woman was used for a married lady, while in specific localities that could be of interest unmarried ladies were referred to as girls. for the underground (political events, arrests, While analyzing this topic, it is also important searches, evictions of families to Siberia, to refer to the documents of the Security establishing and functioning of collective Service of OUN (Sluzhba bezpeky, SB), such as farms, crime rate and sanitary conditions, the information on the activities of Soviet secret social and political attitudes of local people, combat groups, and interrogation reports of etc.). While collecting data from local residents women suspected of secret activities for the and staff reconnaissance officers/informers, Soviet Union which describe sexual violence the authorized OUN members compiled the against them committed by Soviet security most detailed possible report on each event. services officers. An important methodological challenge for 17 See more at: Cynthia Enloe, Bananas, Beaches, and Bases: Making Feminist Sense of the studies of sexual assaults against women International Politics (Berkeley and Los Angeles: within the context of Soviet counterinsurgency University of California Press, 1990); Floya Anthias, Nira Yuval-Davis, eds, Racial Boundaries: Rase, activities is the verification of information Nation, Gender, Colour and Class and the Anti-Racist so widely available in the documents of Struggle (London, Routledge, 1992); Joane Nagel, “Masculinity and nationalism: gender and sexuality Ukrainian nationalist underground with the in the making of nations,” Ethnic and Racial Studies help of documents of Soviet party bodies Vol. 21:2 (1998): 242-269; Ruth Seifert, “Rape: the female body as a symbol and a sign. Gender- and security authorities, most of which are specific violence and the cultural construction of war,” in War or Health? A reader, ed. Illka Taipale preserved in the Sectoral State Archives of (Dhaka, Bangladesh: London; New York: Helsinki, the Security Service of Ukraine and have Finland: Cambridge, Mass.: New York : University Press; 2002), 286. been recently made available to researchers. 18 Head of Ternopil’ Okruzhnyi Provid of This information is scarce in different kinds OUN, “Shakh,” wrote to his senior “Shelest” in one of the letters dated 1947 that one of the tasks of operations reports (including also in the of the Security Service of OUN should be to inspire Command Headquarters of the Internal complaints about “robbery and victimization of NKVDists’ from local residents to the prosecutor’s Forces of NKVD of Ukrainian military office after each counterinsurgent operation of raiion), in staff reports, in fact sheets, special Soviet authorities with the goal “to compromise the villains.” (HDA SBU, f.16, spr. 581, ark. 39). reports on the implemented military public

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security operations and the activities of fighter most informative to resort to party documents, battalions or special groups. This is because the the materials of the military prosecutor, objective of generating such documents was to correspondences between high party and state report on the “successes” in the fight against the security and prosecution bodies describing “foes” of Soviet authorities. That is why they the crimes of NKVD and other entities against mostly include dry statistics on the numbers of the civil population referred to as “violation underground members and members of UPA of revolutionary vigilance” and “socialist taken captive or killed in different localities, in legitimacy.” Many of these documents different periods, on the weapons seized, the were published in different collections of bunkers detected, and Soviet troop losses.19 documents.22 In order to further extend the The supervisory control files on individual available knowledge on official responses of members of the underground or its entities Soviet authorities on sexual violence on the do not contain any information on the forms part of “their own” performers it would be of gender-based violence to force women into helpful to study the rich documentary legacy collaboration with the NKGB-MGB since in of Soviet state security entities. In particular, legal terms it was illegal and punishable.20 it would be valuable to consider personal files Instead, in the generalized documents of the and archival criminal cases on the former Soviet state security entities on the operational, secret state security officers dismissed or convicted agents, and investigative activities of certain for undermining “Soviet legitimacy” and for regional boards of NKGB-MGB, there is data professional misconduct. on procedural infringements, unjustified The ego-documents are an extremely important detentions of women, arrests without due source to study the topic under analysis. It warrants, long detention in custody with no is crucial to take a closer look at women’s official indication of formal charges, and also voices about sexual trauma and examine how the use of violence against them during arrests women articulate their experiences, what and interrogations.21 For this research, it was factors influenced their decisions to speak up or keep silence, and how their verbal and 19 For instance, see materials from the Archiv Upravlinnia SBU u Rivnenskii oblasti, f. 2, subf. 31. 20 For instance, see HDA SBU, f. 65 (“Spravy the republic during the period of 1943/54”), f. 13, operatyvnoho obliku КGB URSR”) and the spr. 372 (“Collection of Documents of the Structure progress reports of Ternopil’ raiion committee of and Nature of Anti-Soviet Activities of the the KP(b)U, board of NKVD and NKGB on the “Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists – OUN” implementation of Resolutions of the TsK VKP(b) and the “Ukrainian Insurgent Army – UPA”); f. and TsK KP(b)U on the struggle against OUN and 16 (“Secretariat of the Main Political Board State UPA (pp. 356-361), and also other similar reports in Political Administration) (GPU) –KGB of Ukrainian the Litopys UPA. Nova seriia. Tom 4: Borotba proty SSR”), such as, spr. 590, ark. 32-42; f. 71 (“Transfer UPA i natsionalistychnoho pidpillia. Informatsiini Acts of Archival Document Materials of the Board dokumenty TsK KP(b)U, obkomiv partii, NKVS- of KGB in Lviv Region”), a.o. MVS, MDB-KDB 1943-1959. Dokumenty i materialy. 22 For instance, see Ivan Bilas, Represyvno- Knyha persha: 1943-1945, eds. V. Lozytskyi, karalna systema v Ukraini. 1917–1953: Suspilno- I. Pavlenko, A. Kentii (Kyiv: Litopys UPA, 2002). politychnyi ta istoryko-pravovyi analiz: U 2 kn. 21 The materials from HDA SBU, such as Kn. 2. (Kyiv: Lybid–Viisko Ukrainy, 1994); Litopys fond 2 (“Board of the Ministry of Internal Affairs neskorenoi Ukrainy: Dokumenty, materialy, for Combatting Banditism, Department 2-Н and spohady. Knyha 2, ed. Yaroslav Lialka and Department 4 of the MGB-KGB of Ukrainian SSR,” others (Lviv: Halytska vydavnycha spilka, 1997); On methods and techniques of secret operational Reabilitovani istoriieiu u 27-y tomakh. Lvivs’ka work of the bodies of public security of Ukraine to oblast’. Kn. 1, holova oblasnoi red. kolehii Ihor liquidate the organized underground of OUN and Derzhko, uporiadk, nauk. red. i peredmova V. armed gangs of UPA militants on the territory of Savchak (Lviv: Vydavnytstvo “Astroliabiia,” 2009).

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physical language conveyed attempts to make survivors, just like other sources used for sense of and reflect on their experience. Due this study, help us trace the forms and to the feeling of shame and guilt and the fear consequences of the gender-based violence for stigmatization, many of them did not write of Soviet authorities within the context of about their traumatic experiences. That is why the struggle against the Ukrainian nationalist most published memories of women either did underground, but they fail to measure the not touch upon the topic, or marginalized it. scale of violence and the precise numbers They are dominated by extended descriptions of victims. At the same time, including new of other, non-sexualized physical and mental sources, primarily Soviet documents, would torture that women suffered during arrest, help us trace the dynamics of gender-based interrogations, imprisonment, prisoner violence against the “enemy” women as transportation, and in the slave labor camps. termed by Soviet authorities, the motivation In oral narratives, women are more open to of perpetrators and so forth. tell about the experience of sexual violence. This study uses the materials of 67 interviews In Search of Enemies: Women and Military I recorded with the female members of Security Operations OUN and UPA in 2015-2018. Not all of my respondents were ready to talk about their The goal of the military security operations was experience. They are more candid with regard to exterminate or take captive the members of to the stories of other women, their friends the underground and their supporters, and to and acquaintances who experienced sexual detect the bunkers. Military people involved in violence.23 Taking into account that in order the operation searched through the woods and to speak of their own trauma women would muddy areas, where the insurgents might be often resort to this method (telling about hiding. They organized the ambushes, blocked another person), we might assume that some villages and conducted searches of houses, and of the stories told could in fact be about the arrested the persons suspected of cooperating respondents themselves. On the whole, oral with the OUN underground.24 Women were stories empower women with voices and make one of the most vulnerable categories of the visible their feelings and emotions related to population during such military operations. their traumatic past; they allow us to trace Many of them, particularly in 1944 and 1945, survival strategies practiced by the victims of ran the households by themselves, took care sexual violence. of their children and old people, whereas On the whole, ego-documents of violence their husbands may have been subject to forced labor in Germany, hiding from the call 23 For instance, a former OUN member to military duty in the Red Army, or staying Mariia Yukish told about rape during Soviet interrogations of several friends of hers who in the insurgent units of the UPA and in the were members of the underground. It is notable combat units of the OUN underground. Rape that one of the victims of violence mentioned by Yukish (a well-known member of OUN who held a was by far the most wide-spread violent act leading position in the Ukrainian Red Cross) never mentioned in any of her interviews being a victim 24 For more on methods of “searching” and of rape during arrest. Interview with Mariia Yukish “sweeping” during Soviet military and security (b. 1930), recorded by М. Havryshko on 21 January, police operations, see the report of the Board for 2017, Dolyna, Ivano-Frankivsk oblast’, author’s Combatting Banditism of NKVD for 1945, HDA private archive. SBU, f. 13, spr. 372, t. 91, ark. 177-179.

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suffered by women during the military and detaining suspects, Soviet soldiers and NKVD security police operations. The leadership officers forced them into public buildings such of the OUN tried to collect all the data about as schools, barns, village council buildings, the raped women to be possibly further used clubs, or private houses, etc., and interrogated for anti-Soviet propaganda. The data was them there about their family members, recorded in special reports on Soviet terror friends, acquaintances, or other persons in certain localities. For instance, 382 cases of related to the underground or insurgents. rape of civilian women by Soviet authority When investigating a case of the NKVD’s representatives, such as law enforcement detainment of a lady typist of the raiion center bodies, were recorded in the report on the of OUN Pavlyna Boychuk (“Orelia”), on 17 situation in the Lviv Oblast’ for July 1944 to July 1945, in a village of Maydan of Solotvyno July 1945.25 raiion in Stanislaviv Oblast’ (presently Ivano- The persons of greatest interest to Soviet Frankivsk Oblast’), the security service authorities during the raids were the closest officer noted in the documents that during relatives of insurgents and members of interrogations in a local school “she was told underground. The eye-witness Mykola to undress herself and he threatened to rape Maksymych mentions a group rape and her. The rape was supposed to involve the murder of a wife of one of the insurgents in his entire battalion.”27 The former head of the home village of Halivka in Staryi Sambir raiion Ukrainian Red Cross (UPA medical service) (Lviv Oblast’) during the military operation: in the Kosiv raiion, Oleksandra Slobodian, recounts that after her arrest in April 1945, His wife was making a bread at the moment in a a Soviet officer made an attempt to rape her house, she was kneading the dough, and there was in front of other soldiers. After Oleksandra fire in the oven. The baby was in a cot, so they took resisted, the rapist hit her so hard that she the baby and threw it into the oven. And they took thrust open a barn door with her body and the woman and undressed her and tied her to the landed at the soldiers’ feet. “They yelled that window. There were some sort of benches at the I offended their superior and threatened that window outside, with the holes where they used to they would all amuse themselves with me.”28 put in the flax tow. He took a spindle, spindled her Some women who resisted the attempts at hair on it, the window was open, and put it with rape were killed. In the reports of the security the hair on into that bench hole. And then she went service we can find descriptions about the through some five of them, and then eventually death of Yustyna Triasko on 1 March 1946, in they hung her.26 a village of Veldizh of Kalush raiion (Ivano- Frankivsk Oblast’): While conducting searches in a village and 25 Litopys UPA. Nova seriia, Tom 13: Voienna A Bolshevik ran after her and grabbed her by the okruha UPA “Buh”. Dokumenty i materialy (1943– hands in the anteroom. The woman tried to break 1952). Knyha 2., eds. V. Moroz, O. Vovk (Kyiv; Toronto: Litopys UPA, 2009), 205. out, but the Bolshevik threw her on the ground and 26 Mykola Maksymych (b. 1936), “Mene partyzany nazyvaly ‘Zhaivoronok’,” in 27 HDA SBU, f. 13, spr. 376. t. 57, ark. 30. Yavorivshchyna u povstanskii borotbi. Rozpovidi 28 Interview with Oleksandra Slobodian (b. uchasnykiv ta ochevydtsiv,zapysav ta uporiadkuvav 1922), recorded by М. Havryshko, 14 August, 2016, Yevhen Luno. Tom 2: Yavoriv (Lviv: Rastr-7, 2015), Zapruttia, Sniatynskyi raiion, Ivano-Frankivsk 963. oblast’, author’s private archive.

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attempted to rape her. Yustyna started screaming women before the murder. For instance, one and other Bolsheviks came to see. She broke free of the reports describes that in the village of from the grip of the Bolshevik and tried to run away Zushytsia Zuczyci (Horodok raiion, Lviv to her house. The Bolshevik realized he was not able Oblast’), the village people found in the to catch the woman, and started shooting with his forest the clothes of a woman arrested shortly gun. After three shots, she was killed in front of her before the body was found after a month on house.29 8 May 1946.33 Murders of women in order to hide the rape were also recorded in Soviet The reports of OUN record many cases of documents. For instance, on 5 May 1945, in death of the raped women. For instance, a the Sambirraiion, in the village of Vanevychi, report dated August 1944 on the situation in a group of soldiers and a sergeant of the 656 the Sokal raiion describes the death of two rifle regiment robbed, raped, and killed three girls “raped by Bolsheviks” in the village of women.34 Liubych.30 Another report of OUN states that The available documents imply that random in a village of Vykhopni (Kamianka-Buska women could also be victims of sexual raiion, Lviv Oblast’), on 10 October 1946, 100 violence by Soviet soldiers. This was the case “Bolsheviks” arrested a local resident Mariia with crimes of the 10th mechanized division of Vykhoplen who was interrogated as a suspect the major general Pavlov in a village of Velykyi in relation with the insurgents. After the Zhytyn (Rivne Oblast’). Overnight into 10 interrogation, she was brought to the forest, January 1946, some unidentified persons raped and killed. On the next day, the people (possibly underground members) fired at the from the village found only the blood stained division soldiers when they were passing by head-kerchief of the woman. They never the village. In response, the soldiers burnt found the body.31 According to the report of down 23 houses in the village. During the fire, OUN dated 26 February 1947, in the village many cattle and several local people died. In a of Tataryniv (Horodok raiion, Lviv Oblast’), special report to the first secretary of the KP(b) officers of a local army garrison of NKVD U, Mykyta Khrushchov, dated 26 January arrested Sofia Kohut and raped her in the sty. 1946, the people’s commissar for state security On the next day, the village people found her Serhiy Savchenko stated the following: “Three dead in the street.32 servicemen raped the wife of a Red Army Some reports on the death of the girls soldier, Nykolaychuk Mariya Afanasyevna, a arrested by Soviets do not contain any specific mother of three small children.”35 information on sexual violence against them, The OUN documents often highlighted that but the content might imply the rape of the Soviet law enforcers deliberately chose to rape young and beautiful victims, irrespective of 29 HDA SBU, f. 13, spr.376, t. 57, ark. 102. their actual relation to the OUN underground. 30 Litopys UPA. Nova seriia, Tom 13, 77. In particular, it was noted that during the 31 Ibid., t. 75, ark. 314. 32 Consolidated report for November and searches in the village of Vovchynets, near December 1947. Districts: Komarno, Horodok, Yaniv, Rudky, Archive of the Center for Research 33 Visti z terenu za cherven 1945. on the Liberation Movement (Arkhkhiv Tsentru Lvivshchyna, ATsDVR, coll. 9, t. 17 (http://avr.org. doslidzhen’ vyzvolnoho rukhu (ATsDVR), coll. ua/index.php/viewDoc/9118/) 10 (Archives of the Foreign Detachments of OUN 34 Litopys neskorenoi Ukrainy, Knyha 2, 284. (New-York). 35 HDA SBU, f. 16, spr. 556, ark. 16.

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Ivano-Frankivsk, on 17 October 1946, a girls. For example, in a village of Mistky (Lviv group of MBD officers raped the “mentally Oblast’), two NKVD officers attempted to rape challenged but beautiful” 30-year-old Varvara an 18-year-old girl. The 70-year-old father Hryhorash in her house, but: who was trying to defend the daughter was killed.40 A former leader of a security service in order to disguise what was going on in the house, combat group, Dmytro Kupyak, described they thoroughly dug every piece of land in the yard in his memoires the details of Soviet military of the lady’s household, and asked every passer-by operations against the underground in the where her husband was.36 Lviv Oblast’ in winter 1945: “In a village of Yablunivka, a major raped a 9-year-old girl, There were also cases of rape of the underage a daughter of Anna Savkova, in full view of girls. It was recorded in a secret report of a the mother.”41 A major of the Zhuravne raiion member of the Council of Aid to Western unit of MVD, Baburin, took the 16-year-old Ukraine, Tymofiy Strokach, addressing the Kateryna Yaremko after the arrest to his place, secretary of TsK KP(b)U Demyan Korotchenko, raped her, and let her out.42 that on 22 March 1945, a Red Army soldier However, it must be emphasized that victims of the regiment 154, Oleksandr Hruzdayev, of mass rape were not only young women. On killed the 14-year-old Anna Yaremchuk after 17 August 1948, in a forest near the village of a failed attempt at rape while on a special Antonivka of Tovmach raiion, five garrison counter-underground operation in a village soldiers raped the 40-year-old Kateryna of Kaminne (Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast’).37 He Holovata.43 There were cases of rape of elderly then hid the body in a ditch. On 15 July 1947, women. For instance, eight NKGB officers in a village of the Mylne (Ternopil Oblast’), a attempted to rape a 72-year-old woman on group of Soviet soldiers raped the 16-year-old 2 December 1946 in the village of Rostoky in daughter of Mykhaylo Shcherbyna, who was the Vyzhnytsia raion, Chernivtsi Oblast’.44 On staying home alone.38 In a village of Bliativka, 2 January 1948, two soldiers of the mopping- the underground members recorded the up battalion raped a 70-year-old woman from following group rape by the NKVD officers of the village of Krohulets (Husiatyn raiion, a 17-year-old girl.39 Ternopil’ Oblast’).45 Rape would often take place in the presence In many cases, rape was committed by a of parents and other family members of the 40 Litopys UPA. Nova seriia. Tom 19: Pidpillia 36 Litopys UPA. Nova seriia. Tom 22. OUN na Bukovyni: 1943-1951: dokumenty i Stanyslavivska okruha OUN: Dokumenty i materialy. materialy, ed. D. Prodanyk (Kyiv; Toronto: Litopys 1945-1951, eds. D. Prodanyk, S. Lesiv (Kyiv; UPA, 2012), 147. Toronto: Litopys UPA, 2013), 420. 41 Dmytro Kupiak, Spohady nedostrilianoho 37 Ibid., Tom 4: Borotba proty UPA i (Toronto; Niu York: Printed by Beskyd Graphics, natsionalistychnoho pidpillia: informatsiini dokumenty 1991), 225. TsK KP(b)U‚ obkomiv partii‚ NKVS–MVS‚ MDB– 42 Litopys neskorenoi Ukrainy. Knyha 2, 281. KDB (1943–1959). Knyha persha: (1943–1945), eds. 43 Litopys UPA. Nova seriia. Tom 22, 710. V. Lozytskyi, I. Pavlenko, A. Kentii (Kyiv; Toronto: 44 Ibid., Tom 19: Pidpillia OUN na Bukovyni: Litopys UPA, 2002), 427. 1943-1951. Documenty I materialy, ed. D. Prodanyk 38 Litopys UPA. Osnovna seriia. Tom 49: (Kyiv; Toronto: Litopys UPA, 2012), 229. Ternopilshchyna: “Visti z Terenu” ta “Vistky z 45 Litopys UPA. Osnovna seriia. Tom 50: Ternopilshchyny.” 1943-1950; Knyha persha (1943- Ternopilshchyna: “Visti z Terenu” ta “Vistky z 1947), eds. I. Homziak, M. Posivnych (Toronto; Ternopilshchyny.” 1943-1950; Knyha druha (1948- Lviv: Litopys UPA, 2010), 479. 1950), ed. I. Homziak (Toronto; Lviv: Litopys UPA, 39 Litopys UPA. Nova seriia. Tom 13, 81. 2010), 90.

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group of perpetrators. For instance, one of also taken from the house to the barn and raped the reports of OUN documented that in the there. Mariya Zatvarnytska was raped 4 timed village of Ulvivok (Sokal raiion, Lviv Oblast’) on that day, while Mariya Melnychuk suffered MVD officers raped the 32-year-old Melania 10 times. When the girls were fought back and Solmanchuk on 19 April 1946 during a search: screamed, Bolsheviks threatened them with prison and execution. Moreover, Mariya Melnychuk She was told to go to the cellar, because they wanted was also raped the following two days. After such to do an inspection. When a woman entered, two interrogations and rape, the girls were beaten so NKVD officers followed, while one officer stayed at hard that Mariya Melnychuk had her arm broken, the door. The two attacked the woman. She started and her legs displaced, and the bodies of both girls screaming. They stuck a hat in her mouth and were full of bruises.49 committed the rape.46 Mass rape would often take place during the On 15 April 1946, in a forest at the village long stays of Soviet troops in certain localities. of Zahirya (Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast’), 30 For instance, there is information in the OUN “Bolsheviks” raped the newly arrested report for May 1946 for the Stanislaviv Oblast’ two daughters of the village woman Sofia on mass arrests of young women with the Savychyn. After the rape, the women were intention to further rape them. This took place released to go home.47 On 17 August 1946, in during the so-called Winter Siege (Zymova the hamlet of Dibrova (presently part of the blokada) during January-April 1946).50 Most town Koropets, Ternopil’ Oblast’), seven arrested girls had nothing to do with the OUN NKVD officers raped the wife of the local underground. For instance, in the village of citizen Petro Chemnyi. The husband was taken Pidpechary (Tysmenytsia raiion), about 60% out of the house during the rape.48 The sexual of young unmarried women were arrested exploitation of the detained women could last and further transferred at the disposal of for several days and had severe consequences individual NKVD officers and Red Army for the victims. In the village of Komariv, soldiers. In the Halych raiion, the report states Halych raiion, Stanislaviv Oblast’, on 3 April that almost all girls were arrested in villages 1946, the MVD arrested two girls who were for further sexual exploitation.51 questioned about the activities of OUN in 49 HDA SBU, f. 13, spr. 376, t.57, ark. 307. the village. The security service documents 50 “Winter Siege” - in the documents of the describe the case as follows: OUN, this is one of the largest military operations of Soviet power, conducted to ensure the holding of the elections to the Supreme Council of the USSR. During January-April 1946, 3500 garrisons On the following day, during the interrogations of regular troops with a total number of more when the girls were severely beaten, they were than half a million people, 15 thousand NKVD personnel, and 3,593 fighter battalions with a total 46 HDA SBU, f. 13, spr. 376, t. 57, ark. 334. of 63 thousand were involved in this operation. 47 Litopys UPA. Nova seriia. Tom 22, 157. 140 employees of the NKDB of the UkrSSR, as well 48 HDA SBU, f. 62, op. 2, spr. 51, t. 10, ark. as 50% of the city departments of the NKDB in 472. For other cases, see: Litopys UPA. Nova seriia. Western Ukraine took part in the special operation. Tom 22, 165; Litopys UPA. Nova seriia. Tom 49: Pidpillia (Oleksandra Stasiuk, “Protystoiannia vlady ta OUN na Bukovyni: 1943-1951. Dokumenty i materialy, natsionalistychnoho pidpillia pid chas vyborchykh ed. Dmytro Prodanyk (Kyiv; Toronto: Litopys kampanii 1946-1947 rokiv u zakhidnoukrainskykh UPA, 2012), 273; Zvit. Teror suproty ukrainskoho oblastiakh,” Viiskovo-naukovyi visnyk. Vyp. 26. naselennia. Drohobytskyi i Medynytskyi raiony, (2016): 176-177. ATsDVR, coll. 10. 51 Litopys UPA. Nova seriia. Tom 22, 317, 340.

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Along with rape, there were other forms of to each other in a sitting position along the walls of sexual violence during military operations NKVD or KGB. When there were girls among the against the OUN underground and the UPA. insurgents, they would put the arms of dead girls Genital injuries were a rather frequent practice around the necks of dead boys to have a good laugh. of torture against the arrested women. The They would walk around them, laugh, and spit on OUN reports often include information about them.54 corporal injuries of the killed women, when describing circumstances around the death of There were also pregnant ladies among the the underground members during the military killed underground members. For example, and security police operations and operations there was “Vira,” a close friend of Olena of Soviet security bodies. In particular, one Andrushchak. Still today, she is horrified to such report states that one of the local leaders recollect how “Vira” looked when “a baby of the Ukrainian Red Cross “Olenka” who died was still pushing inside her belly.”55 The burial during the raid on 22 September 1945, near the place of “Vira” remains unknown still today. village of Zahirya (Zboriv raiion, Ternopil’ On the basis of the available sources, it might Oblast’), also had her breasts cut in addition to be assumed that cases of sexual violence broken arms and legs.52 According to the data against women during the military and police of the list, another killed female underground operations were numerous. It is also reflected member, Anna Hetman, also had her breasts in Soviet official documents. A secret report cut off.53 However, the sexualized violence of the Board for Combatting Banditism of against women did not stop even after their NKVD for 1945 describes that one of the key death. A former underground member, drawbacks of a military and police operation Stefania Petrash-Sichko, describes in her are “the cases of breaching Soviet lawfulness memories another frequent Soviet practice by individual NKVD staff, officers, and related to the defilement of dead bodies of the soldiers of ВВ NKVD.”56 The document killed enemies: does not specify the list of crimes but due to different data from other sources we could Still during the war, until May 1945, when they assume that the authors of the report also killed us, either the OUN or the UPA members, implied cases of gender-based violence. In they did not take away the dead bodies. They left other Soviet documents, one can find more them there. After the battle, we could bury them. details. In particular, in his address to the After the war though, they killed them and made Minister of Internal Affairs of the Ukrainian the people from the village stack the dead bodies SSR, Tymofiy Strokach, dated 17 July1946 , the on the carts and take them to the raiion center for Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR, Serhiy identification. The identification procedure was like Kruhlov, mentioned that the militia officer this: they undressed them naked, and put them next of the Halych raiion law enforcement unit

54 Try povstannia Sichkiv: u 2TT. T.1: 52 Spysok vpavshykh heroiv ukrainskoi Spohady Stefanii Petrash-Sichko. Dokumenty, ed. revoliutsii v borotbi z moskovsko-bilshovytskym V.V. Ovsiienko (Kharkiv: Folio, 2004), 35. okupantom za chas vid 13.03.1944 do31.12.1948). 55 Interview with Olena Andrushchak Ternopilshchyna, ATsDVR, fond. 12 (Zbirka (b. 1924), recorded by M. Havryshko,9 July 2015, dokumentiv z riznykh kolektsii, zibranykh Silets, Sokal’ raiion, Lviv oblast’, author’s privat ATsDVR)), coll. 4. archive. 53 Ibid. 56 HDA SBU, f. 13, spr. 372, t. 91, ark. 174.

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of Stanislaviv region, Izotov, raped women was shot in the chest by Poslavskyi. Upon during the military and militia operations.57 request from the regional prosecutor’s office, Pursuant to the Resolution of the Political a Military Prosecutor of MVD Troops in Bureau of TsK KP(b)U “On Intensifying the Drohobych Oblast’ also left this case the Fight Against Ukrainian Nationalists in unattended without any progress.60 Western Regions of Ukraine” dated 2 January 1945, party secretaries of different levels as well Vulnerability of the Female Bodies in Places as heads of regional and raiion units of NKVD- Deprived of Liberty NKGB were obliged to investigate all cases of breaching “Soviet lawfulness” and to bring The abuse of women’s bodies did not stop in the culprits to responsibility.58 However, there pretrial detention centers and lock-up wards were cases when militia members or security (preliminary detention cells), prisons where unit officers who committed the crimes, rape the female relatives of the underground among them, were left unpunished or only members were gathered along with female disciplinary measures were applied. For underground members themselves, their instance, it took a year of investigations of the supporters, or witnesses. The arrested women case of an operative of the Pomoriany raiion often had little to do with the underground. unit of MVD, Klymenko, when the UMVD Both sexes were subjected to similar types administration punished him to 20 days of of violence in cells – hair shaving, forced arrest and further dismissal from the position undressing, body searches, and physical in October 1946. The alleged crimes committed tortures. But some forms of degradation by Klymenko also included the rape of a woman produced feelings and meanings that differed in a village of Vatsen.59 The Soviet documents from those of men due to socialized gendered imply that one of the reasons for tolerating roles and expectations. Even the mandatory crime on the part of MVD-MGB officers routine procedures for such establishments of was their effective participation in special the Soviet penitentiary system were taken by operations against the OUN underground, some women as sexual humiliation. In the first which in some cases served as immunity place, it was a matter of the so called sanitation against being brought to justice. For instance, of prisoners. More often than not, the naked upon request of local prosecutor’s office, the women were escorted to the shower rooms Staryi Sambir raiion unit of MVD declined by men guards who scrutinized the women’s the arrest of their officers, Poslavskyi and bodies. A former special service agent of Kovalyov, who attempted to rape women in OUN, Halyna Kokhanska, recalls her stay in their homes in the village of Sozan (Drohobych a prison of the Lutsk city when she was 19: Oblast’) on 5 May 1946. One of them, Mariia, “The guard took me to the cell. On his way, he 57 Ivan Bilas, Represyvno-karalna systema v said: “Well, you are severely hurt, you know.” Ukraini. 1917–1953. Knyha 2, 646. He watched me wash through the peep-hole 58 NKVD–MVD SSSR v bor’be s banditizmom i vooruzhennym nacionalisticheskim podpol’em na in the door. I felt disgusting inside from such Zapadnoy Ukraine, v Zapadnoy Belorussii i Pribaltike a humiliating position.”61 A former liaison (1939–1956), eds. I. Vladimircev, A. Kokurin (Moskva: Ob’edinennaya redakciya MVD Rossii, women of OUN Tamara Kryshtalska recounts 2008), 244. 59 Litopys neskorenoi Ukrainy: Dokumenty, 60 Ibid., 281. materialy, spohady. Knyha 2, 275. 61 Litopys UPA. Seriia “Biblioteka”. T. 9: Ha-

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her traumatic experience in a prison in Lutsk They made us walk along through the rows of when she was 19: impudent men in NKVD uniforms who shouted all sorts of obscenities and abusing jokes in They took us to the steam room for disinfection and Russian… When women were to wash, all of made us strip naked. And all the convoy guards them, from the “bath attendant” – a young boy were young boys. What a shame it was, it was so – to everyone person on the guard were male embarrassing!62 and Russian-speaking.65

Yevheniya Andrushchak recalls her stay in the The women’s memoires also included stories Lviv transit prison in January 1949: involving women forced to undress during a role-taking routine. It was often accompanied Everyone was forced one by one into sanitary by humiliating comments about the female treatment, and then into a bathroom. Men were body and sexuality. A former OUN member, everywhere. The women started a row that they Ivanna Mashchak, describes the procedure in did not want to approach men, screaming, crying, the transit prison in Lviv: young girls calling for their mothers. Men would curse and mock us shamefully.63 Every night women and girls had to undress for the so called “check-up.” We had to stand in lines, A former OUN liaison person Mariia Levytska- and then the superiors would come. The seniors Zahoruyko, recalls how a group of girls who picked anyone from the lines and “characterized” stripped off their clothes and sent them to women’s bodies in obscene and vulgar words. I “sanitation” treatment went to the bathrooms recall they dragged out of the line the young girl in the internal prison of MDB Board in Lviv Lida Pletinka. Her long black braided hair covered region presently known as the “Prison at her white body perfectly beautifully like snakes and Lontskoho”64: tears were running down her face. Some senior turned her around and said aloud: “and how could she be a bandit…” next to her stood undressed lyna Kokhanska, Z Ukrainoiu v sertsi: spomyny, grey-haired women – mothers, pregnant women, P. Potichnyi, M. Posivnych (eds.) (Lviv; Toronto: 66 Litopys UPA, 2008), 225. crippled women with obvious signs of beating. 62 Interview with Tamara Kryshtal’ska (b. 1926), recorded by M. Havryshko,24 April 2016, Horokhiv, Volyn’ska oblast’, author’s private Some other frequent practices included forced archive. stripping and sexual harassment during 63 Yevheniia Andrusiak, Spohady: memuary i dokumenty (Lviv: Lvivskyi natsionalnyi un-t im. interrogations. Along with other methods Ivana Franka, Instytut literaturoznavchykh studii, 2001), 56. of psychological (blackmail, intimidation, 64 It pertains to the so called “Prison at threats to take away the children, to evict the Lontskoho,” presently known as the National Memorial Museum of Occupation Regimes Victims. family to the remote areas of Soviet Union) and From 1944 to 1991, it was used by different agencies: physical violence, sexual violence was one of Between 1944 and 1946 it was a prison No 1 of the Board of NKVD in the Lviv region, from 1946 to a methods to get the wanted information. An 1954, it was an internal prison of the Board of MGB in the Lviv region, from 1954 to 1991, it was a pre- trial prison of the KGB Board in the Lviv region 65 Mariia Levytska-Zahoruiko, U kozhnoho (see more at: Ihor Derevianyi, Tiurma na Lontskoho, svoia dolia (Novyi Rozdil: b.v.,1994), 261. Entsyklopediia istorii Ukrainy, ed. V. Smolii. Tom 10: 66 Ivanna Mashchak, Dorohamy mynuloho T-Ya (Kyiv: Naukova dumka, 2013), 193. (Kyiv: [b.v.], 2010), 78.

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arrested 26-year-old SB scout Mariya Povkh He was also young and started molesting and (Haliatovska), stayed in the abovementioned groping my breasts. And my investigative officer prison of the MGB Board in the Lviv region in told him: ‘Don’t touch the banderovite!’72 summer and autumn 1949. She recalled: Young, often unmarried women prevailed It was horrible, it was disgraceful. Three of them among the arrested persons suspected of would come, and take all of your clothes off, and relations with the nationalist underground. say: ‘Look, she was a Bandera whore.’ And you Considering the strict sexual standards of would stand there all naked, they forcefully strip the times based on the idea of virginity until you. You don’t undress yourself. They tore the marriage for girls, we might reasonably clothes off you. And they would stand there and assume that before the arrest many of the laugh at you. If only I had guns, I would kill all of arrested girls might not have had any sexual them.67 experience. Therefore, forceful stripping was particularly painful for them, and the A former underground member Olha traumatic experience must have left a severe Volianska recalled torture in a prison in the footprint on their memory. They felt double town of Mykolayiv (Lviv Oblast’): “I did my shame and humiliation, both as women and best to bear with it. They kicked me and spit as prisoners in the enemy’s hands. on me, and stripped me, Jesus, I don’t feel Another frequent violent practice in Soviet like recalling what those moskals68 did.”69 The prisons was rape during interrogations. stripped women were also be beaten on their Kateryna Maksymovych recalls that during breasts or genitals during interrogations.70 her stay in the internal prison of the MGB They were sometimes also victimized by Board in Lviv, one of the investigating officers several persons at the same time.71 Sometimes, continuously raped the girls. One of them they touched the women’s genitals without died after the torture.73 A former underground stripping them. A former SB scout Anna member Mariya Yukish (“Chorna”) recounted Bondaruk (Sosnova) recalls how at the age of the rape attempt of an investigating officer 20 she was summoned to the interrogation to in a prison in the town of Bolekhiv (Ivano- the NKVD prison in Terebovlia at 2 a.m.: Frankivsk Oblast’) when she was 16:

An investigative officer entered from another room. If it were not for the call, he would have raped me. He was all ready, he took me by the hands 67 Interview with Mariia Povkh (b. 1923), and wanted to put me on his knees, and somebody recorded by М. Havryshko, 23 February 2017, 74 Burshtyn, Ivano-Frankivsk oblast’, author’s private called him and told him his wife was in labor. archive. 68 Moskal’ is a derogatory term for a Russian and/or pro-Russian person. 72 Interview with Anna Bondaruk (b. 1928), 69 Interview with Olha Volianska (b. 1926), recorded by М. Havryshko, 27 March 2017, author’s recorded by M. Havryshko, 2015, Lviv oblast’, private archive. author’s private archive. 73 Interview with Kateryna Maksymovych 70 Zvit. Stanislavivshchyna. Report. (b. 1924), recorded by М. Havryshko, 20 June 2015, Stanislavivshchyna. December 1946, ATsDVR, coll. Mykolaiv, Lviv oblast’, author’s private archive. 10 74 Interview with Mariia Yukish (b. 1930), 71 Interview with Mariia Vivcharyk (b.1925), recorded by М. Havryshko, 21 January, 2017, recorded by М. Havryshko, 5 March 2017, author’s Dolyna, Ivano-Frankivsk oblast’, author’s private private archive. archive.

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Later, several of Mariya’s friends told her that Hanna Linko (Kovalchuk), a former scout he had raped them during interrogations. of UPA, who stayed in the same orison in UPA journal “Striletski Visti” of June 1945 summer 1949,79 also had similar memories. reports following: “One girl liberated from the Most probably, the rape of women during Lopatyn prison admitted that during her stay interrogations was not sanctioned, or rather, it in the prison she was raped by fifty NKVD did not follow the direct orders or guidelines, at officers.”75 In the documents of OUN and least not in written form. However, according UPA, there are also many records of women to Soviet documents, some investigative released from prisons who had suffered rape. officers believed it was an acceptable In April 1947, in a village of Koropets of the method to carry out an investigation. Quite a Zolochiv raiion (Lviv Oblast’ ), a 27-year-old significant role in shaping such attitudes can Mariya Hontar died on the third day after she be attributed to Soviet authorities and their came back from one day in prison. Mariya loyal treatment of such practices, such as was interrogated about her sister’s fiancé who there were no due investigations of violence was an underground member.76 In September episodes against women or punishment of 1946, a military tribunal sentenced a former rapists. The investigation periods for such criminal investigator of Stanislaviv MGB cases extended far beyond the framework Board, Yehorov, to five years in a forced labor set by the law. In particular, the fact sheet of camps for raping a pregnant woman during the personnel department of the TsK KP(b)U interrogation while drunk.77 dated 8 October 1945 mentions the overrun Stories of rape circulated among the imprisoned investigation in the case of the aid of the women. They listened to the stories of victims criminal investigator of the Kamyanka-Buska and passed on the stories or rumors. The fear raiion of NKVD in Lviv Oblast’, Yaremyn, who of being raped was a continuous factor in the raped the arrested woman Anastasiya Kis in prison routine for women. Stefania Bodnar July.80 The same factsheet states the termination recalls that some of the first stories she heard of the criminal procedure in the matter of the in the “Prison at Lontskoho” were about rape: chief of the fighter battalion of the Solotvyno raiion division of NKVD in Stanislaviv Everyone was saying they were raping, oh my... Oblast’ who coaxed the women detained in it was complete darkness, there were two of us, the preliminary detention cell, Basiuts and and they threw me into the cell, and we sat there Semaniuk, into sexual intercourse.81 Some of in the corner, and I would think I wish there was the most notorious cases of rape of the arrested someone else, and we talk together about how he women were reported to the highest-ranking [the investigating officer] might abuse us.78 party officials. In individual cases, it was impossible to hide or ignore the crimes due to the social position of the victims and their 75 Litopys UPA. Nova seriia. Tom 13, 668. 76 Litopys UPA. Nova seriia. Tom 24: Zolochivska okruha OUN: Orhanizatsiini dokumenty (1941-1952), 79 Interview with Hanna Lin’ko (b. 1924) ed. Mykhaylo Romaniuk (Kyiv: Toronto, 2014), 245. recorded by M. Havryshko, 17 February 2017, 77 Litopys UPA. Nova Seriia. T. 5, 265. Zbarazh, Ternopil’ oblast’, author’s private archive. 78 Interview with Stefaniya Bodnar (b. 1927) 80 Litopys UPA. Nova seriia. Tom 14: UPA i recorded by M. Havryshko, 4 November 2016, Hai, zapillia na PZUZ. 1943–1945. Nevidomi dokumenty Peremyshlians’kyi raion, Lviv oblast’, author’s (Kyiv; Toronto, 2010), 479. private archive. 81 Litopys UPA. Nova seriia. Tom 14, 480.

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loyalty or closeness to the Soviet authorities. from one of the majors of the border guard A former OUN member, the 92-year-old Z., troops of NKVD in Drohobych Oblast’, M. recalls that in 1945, he was held in detention Bitiukov.83 In some cases, in order to coax the in the building of NKVD, near the Zahirya detained women into sex, Soviet investigative village (Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast’). His friend officers forced them to drink alcohol and then Hanna, who was arrested on suspicion of raped them. This was the case with the acting collaboration with the underground, was also chief of the Zhuravno raiion division of MVD, in the cell along with him and other inmates. Alekseev, with the detained woman Iryna Mr Z. can vividly remember the details of one Sikirko.84 More often than not, investigative interrogation of Hanna conducted by a senior officers used blackmail and promised to lieutenant of NKVD: release the women in exchange for sexual services. A special report of the prosecutor’s He stripped her naked and would try to have her office of Lviv Oblast’, addressing the his way, but it did not work, so he beat her so hard, Prosecutor of Ukrainian SSR dated 20 March she was all bruised, and then he put a club in her 1946, described that on 14 February 1946, [vagina]. She burst with blood. They took her by the Matiukhin, the Chief of the Banditism division arms and legs and threw her into our cell. Well, I of Hlyniany raiion NKVD division offered to had some nose-wipes. And I gave the wipes to her, the arrested 19-year-old Kateryna Mykhalska and she tucked them in, to stop the blood.82 to have sexual intercourse with him in exchange for release from arrest. According The events described above took place while to the survivor’s evidence, he ordered to her the First Secretary of the local Komsomol to strip herself naked and sit on his lap. On organization was there and talking to the the next day, the same situation took place but arrested people. He saw the raped and beaten Kateryna refused. Then, Matiukhin undressed Hanna who was a financial agent at the time the woman naked and beat her with a rubber (worked in a financial department of the local club, and then put the club into her vagina. administration in the town of Rohatyn) and After that, he beat her again and “suggested reported about it to his superiors. The victim the latter[ Mykhalska] kneeled, put his genital was taken to a local hospital to receive medical organ in her hands, and put it into her mouth.”85 aid. When four of his fellow officers entered the The incidents of coaxing women into sex were room and saw that the woman’s dress and face recorded in various Soviet documents. For were covered in sperm, Matiukhin explained: instance, such acts on the part of Rudenko, “Look, what a little snotter she is, but she is chief of NKVD raiion division in Krukenychi not willing to tell anything about her links raiion (Lviv Oblast’) are described in a letter to the bandits.” After three days, the woman addressing Mykyta Khrushchov and coming was released on the grounds of unreasonable arrest. The investigation established that 82 Interview with Z. (b. 1925), recorded by М. Matiukhin raped several more arrested girls, Havryshko, 21 July 2017, Rohatyn, Ivano-Frankivsk oblast’, Archives of the research project “The Social Anthropology of the Void: Poland and Ukraine after World War II” (Financed by the National 83 Litopys UPA. Nova seriia. Tom 3, 187. Program for the Development of the Humanities in 84 Litopys neskorenoi Ukrainy. Knyha 2, 281. Poland, manager – Anna Wylegala). 85 Litopys UPA. Nova seriia. Tom 5, 89-90.

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the youngest of them being 16 years old.86 All On 1 April 1945, the Lopatyn town prison of them were also released from prison. (Lviv Oblast’) released six girls arrested Sexual violence during investigation was at their homes two weeks before who had one of the methods of torture to break a venereal diseases.88 In summer 1946, in person psychologically, and thus impel her the Bohorodchany raiion (Ivanj-Frankivsk into collaboration with Soviet authorities. In Oblast’), OUN recorded mass infections among addition to money rewards, women could be former female inmates in Soviet prisons. For promised to have the punishment reduced example in the village of Liamivka, there or cancelled, to receive support in studies, were four cases and in the village of Dobrova employment, relocation to another place, there were two cases.89 The report of OUN for protection from the revenge of the OUN December 1946 states that many girls released underground for them, and for their families. from the prison of the town of Zhydachiv near The women who rejected the offers were Lviv were infected with syphilis after being sentenced to different terms of forced labor raped.90 A report of the URC dated 30 July camps or imprisonment. Others, who agreed 1946 states that, in addition to Soviet soldiers, to be agents and informers of Soviet secret persons released from arrest were the major services, became hostages of the authorities cause of the spread of STDs in the Chortkiv and also targets of the SB OUN. raiion (Ternopil’ Oblast’).91 The high prevalence of STDs among former Sexually Transmitted Diseases as a “Weapon” inmates were grounds for OUN to admit that of War on Women the exposure to infections was deliberate. The OUN leaders treated STDs as a form of A major consequence of raping women in biological weapon of the Soviet authorities Soviet prisons and in pre-trial detention against the underground and insurgents. centers was the exposure of women to sexually This is evidenced by official documents of the transmitted diseases. Despite shame and underground and UPA. One of the orders of fear of stigmatization, women had to reveal the command staff of the UPA detachment of their traumatic experiences as they required “Yavoreyko” dated 6 November 1944 stated: medical help. OUN medical services in charge of the sanitary condition in the regions To follow closely any cases of sexually transmitted who also offered aid to civilians thoroughly diseases in the detachment and keep in mind that recorded such cases. For instance, the report of there are deliberate efforts on the part of NKVD Ukrainian Red Cross (URC) in the Sokal raiion who are trying to exterminate the Ukrainian people of OUN, dated 31 October 1944, stated: through infections.92

Girls arrested from the area of Kamyanka raiion One of the insurgents’ doctors, Bohdan Huk who have been released from prison were raped by the NKVD and almost every one of them is 88 Ibid., 179. infected with a sexual disease. They are undergoing 89 Ibid., Tom 22, 193. 90 Richnyi zvit. Tretii Nadraion. ATsDVR, treatment in Lviv.87 coll. 10. 91 HDA SBU, f. 62, op. 2, spr. 51, t. 10, ark. 86 Litopys UPA. Nova seriia. Tom 5, 90. 449. 87 Ibid., Tom 13, 380. 92 HDA SBU, f. 13, spr. 372, t. 3, ark. 136.

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(“Skala”), wrote in his memories: threat. In order to take control over the situation, the underground leaders tried to In the same year of 1946, several captured NKVD conduct medical examinations of the women members in the district 1 of “Kholodnyi Yar” released from prisons to detect any STDs, and showed another mean method of Kremlin to fight take a thorough record of the infected ones. the Ukrainian resistance. They revealed that the This is mentioned, in particular, in the decree NKVD soldiers with STDs could obtain the right of the “Moryak,” a raiion headman of SB in to receive treatment at public expense only after Kolky district dated 25 September 1944.96 In they managed to infect a specific number of so the case of a breakout of STDs epidemics in a called ‘politically unreliable’ women and girls with certain locality, the OUN underground leaders these diseases. More privileged persons could carry informed the local population and isolated the out their tasks in ‘prisons,’ concentration camps, infected persons.97 They also increasingly tried and during interrogations at the police stations.93 to raise awareness. For example, meetings were organized for insurgents and the local A former underground member, Vanda population (the so called “hutirka,” “small Horchynska (“Domovyna“), recalled that talk” meetings), where they discussed sexually along with the group of other OUN members transmitted diseases, their peculiarities, and she was supposed to commit a terror act on prevention methods.98 one Red Army soldier who was ordered to Since STDs were treated by the OUN rape female members of the underground leadership in terms of security aspects, in and its supporters during the military and many cases they conducted a thorough security police operations around the town of investigation for each case. The investigation Kopychyntsi in Ternopil’ Oblast’. Information of cases of infecting and disseminating the on this came from men who had been arrested STDs was typically within the competence and later released by NKVD.94 A failed of the SB OUN. It can be confirmed by the assassination attempt on a Soviet officer took notes in the diary of raiion headman “Davyd” place on 10 October 1944 in a district hospital liquidated by NKVD in 1945. In particular, it of the town of Kopychyntsi where the man records the content of a secret order dated 12 was undergoing medical treatment95. November 1945. One of the provisions read as The large numbers of infected women follows: resulted in special security measures in the underground. Almost all women who had To combat sexually transmitted diseases. To been in Soviet prisons were treated by the identify venereal patients of both genders and OUN leadership as sources of a possible notify Ukrainian population. To report about the venereal patients to the Ukrainian Red Cross and 99 93 Bohdan Huk, Likari i medychnyi personal Security Service. taktychnoho vidtynka UPA “Lemko,” Litopys UPA Kn. 1: Medychna opika v UPA. Tom 23. (Toronto; Lviv: Litopys UPA, 2001), 165. 96 HDA SBU, f. 2, op. 65, spr.7, t.1, ark.78. 94 Interview with Vanda Horchyns’ka (b. 97 Ibid., f. 13, spr. 372, t. 20, ark. 27. 1924), recorded by M. Havryshko, 11 November 98 Litopys UPA. Nova seriia. Tom 2: Volyn i 2016, Kopychyntsi, Kopychynets’kyi raion, Polissia: UPA ta zapillia. Dokumenty i materialy, Ternopil’ oblast’, author’s private archive. Litopys UPA, eds. O. Vovk. I. Pavlenko (Kyiv; 95 AUSBU u u Ternopilskii oblasti, , spr.8308 Toronto: Litopys UPA, 1999), 63. P., ark. 15 zvorot (reverse). 99 HDA SBU, f.13, spr. 372, t. 23, ark. 81.

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Since the Secret Service investigators were was intimate with men while carrying the disease, mostly men, it could be assumed that the while hiding from Bolsheviks, and thus behaved investigation process was very humiliating for immorally while spreading the disease.101 women and caused repeated trauma. During the investigation, investigators tried to clarify The content of the document does not clearly the circumstances of being infected as well imply whether Oksana had been warned about as the potential number of infected persons. the inadmissible conduct, or the underground For instance, during the interrogation on 23 members decided to kill her only due to the September 1946, the SB OUN questioned the fact that she infected men who had had sexual village lady Milya Mota (Tomaszow district, contacts with her. presently in Poland) and asked her about In addition to female underground members her biography, how she entered “the young or insurgents infected with venereal diseases, lady status,” how she started her sexual life, the village women posed another threat for and about all her sexual partners, such as the the underground since insurgents would insurgents. It is notable that the 18-year-old often contact local women lodging in different Milya was embarrassed to admit that she had localities. Some commanders were rather been raped by a soldier of the Polish Army loyal to romantic and sexual relations of during her arrest, which was most probably their subordinates for recreation purposes. the reason for her disease (as remarked by the A former medical nurse of the UPA sotnia SB investigator). In the end of the record of unit “Haydamaky,” Mariya Khovanets the interrogation of Security Service, there is a (“Marichka”) explained it in the following “note” by Milya that runs as follows: way:

I am hereby informed that in case I allow intercourse Village girls fell in love with the insurgents. It is upon signing this statement and infect anyone, I not a secret… What would they [insurgents] have commit myself to the death penalty. to do. Today, they are there alive, while tomorrow they might not be alive.102 The analysis of other similar documents implies that such written commitments were The liberal position of some UPA commanders a widespread method to control the spread regarding the sexual behavior of the male of STDs.100 In case the promise was breached, insurgents was also mentioned by one of women were doomed to execution. A note to the headwomen of the Ukrainian Red Cross, the interrogation report by the OUN Security Kateryna Havryliv, emphasizing that taking of the Lviv oblast’ of the Ukrainian Red Cross such liberties was inadmissible for women regarding the nurse Oksan Pozniak, dated 26 in the UPA.103 Taking into account that some October 1945, states the following: sexual relations of insurgents with local women

101 HDA SBU, f. 13, spr. 376, t. 54, ark. 41. The nurse was liquidated due to the fact that she 102 Interview with Mariia Khovanets’ (b. 1928), recorded by M. Havryshko 24 February 2017, Burshtyn, Ivano-Frankivs’k oblast’, author’s private 100 Archiwum Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej archive. w Warszawie, AIPN [Archives of the Institute 103 Interview with Kateryna Havryliv (b. of National Remembrance in Warsaw], zespół 1920), recorded by M. Havryshko, 21 January 2017, BU_1554-75, p. 79. Bolekhiv, Ivano-Frankivsk oblast’, author’s private

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were forcible,104 and also due to low sexual patients would most often risk death. The education levels in the Western Ukrainian guidelines for the raiion headmen of SB dated society in those times, it might be assumed 16 March 1947, mentioned the need to kill the that some women were unconsciously the incurably ill and “demoralized” persons.108 We sources of infection. can find similar directions in the guidelines If several infected persons were detected in for underground members dated 27 March the UPA detachments, an isolation period was 1949.109 In the letter of “Bohun” to “Zov” dated prescribed, while other soldiers were checked, September 1946, great attention is dedicated as well as local people in the lodging area.105 to the issue of the spread of STDs among the Some underground members were discharged OUN members and supporters, insurgents, from their duties. During the interrogation and the local population. The addresser of MDB on 21 August 1951, a member of underlined: Carpathian regional directorate of OUN, Petro Ivanyshyn (“Kuriava”) testified the following: If the disease is in an advanced stage – you give a gun and a grenade to him, let him go and kill the Initially, there was an idea to banish all venereal Bolshevik leaders. He is lost for the nation anyway. diseases from the underground, but since the Let him wipe out the disgrace at least this way.110 disease has a mass scale in the Nadvirna raiion, and such eliminations would largely reduce manpower, Patients in the terminal stage of the disease it was agreed to leave the persons with STDs in the were also given dangerous assignments with underground.106 high risks for their lives. A former insurgent Andriy Kordan (“Kozak”) recalls that a In the first stages of the disease, patients commander “Zalizniak” organized a special were given chances for survival. Under the unit made of five seriously ill patients who conditions of the underground, treatment were assigned “to get hold of medications on was complicated. There was a noticeable lack any occasion.”111 of qualified medical staff and medications. The UPA doctor Modest Ripetskyi recalls That is why some improvised means were that the head of the “Lemkivshchyna” kurin used. A doctor of the “Bira” sotnia unit, subdivision, Vasyl Mizernyi (“Ren”), was Ivan Bohuslavskyi (“Spivak”) recalled that steadfast on such issues and gave an oral he injected hot cow milk into the venereal command to immediately liquidate all STD patients for 10 days and gave them vodka patients. Since Ripetskyi did not support such with oil, in equal quantities, to drink chased tough measures, he hid the disease with the down by sauerkraut. He also recommended to three UPA soldiers who were undertaking the his patients to drink large amounts of water.107 training in a military camp at Bukovyi Berd in When chances for survival were terrible,

archive. 108 AIPN w Warszawie, BU_1554/15. 104 See more: Marta Havryshko, “Choloviky, 109 HDA SBU, f. 13, spr. 376, t. 29, ark. 322. zhinky i nasyl’stvo v OUN i UPA u 1940–1950-kh 110 HDA SBU, f. 13, spr. 372, t. 22, ark. 27. rokakh,” Ukrainskyi istorychnyi zhurnal. 2016. No. 4: 111 Andrii Kordan, Odyn nabii z nabiinytsi. 89–107. Spomyny voiaka UPA z kurenia “Zalizniaka,” 105 HDA SBU, f. 13, spr. 376, t. 28, ark. 179. ed. Mykola Dubas, Biblioteka Zakerzonnia. 106 HDA SBU, f. 65, spr.1746, ark. 27. Spohady. Tom. 4 (Toronto; Lviv: Vyd-vo “Lvivska 107 AtsDVR, coll. 9, vol. 12, spr. 62, ark. 1. politekhnika,” 2006 ), 112.

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the Carpathians that “Ren” was in charge of.112 that ‘Bohdan’ had a ‘psychosis of fear.”114 In his memories, Ivan Lyko describes in detail Eventually, on 27 September 1949, “Bohdan” the fate of the commander of the combat unit was executed based on a sentence of the nicknamed “Zyma.” Lyko received the order distance court, but not for the STD rather for to kill him as terminally ill: ignoring the orders and hiding away. Understanding the circumstances of infecting I was going there under a huge nervous strain, women in prisons, the underground leaders and I have already tried several times to take out tried to soften their attitude to them and not my pistol, but “Zyma” would look back at me apply the death penalty. This is reflected every time, while keeping an active conversation. in the respective orders.115 However, in Suddenly, the path got bumpy, it was easy to practice, things were sometimes different. stumble, so “Zyma” would watch his step in front The abovementioned Vanda Horchynska of him. In no time, I put the end of the pistol right to recalls that among a dozen of girls infected the back of “Zyma’s” neck, a dozen of centimeters by Soviet troops with syphilis during the away, and pressed the trigger with my shaking mentioned military security action around finger… a slight click, and the pistol failed to the town of Kopychyntsi, there was a young shoot.113 lady, a liaison of UPA, Teklya. After she infected two underground SB members, Being aware of the practices to liquidate she was shot down.116 The materials of the the STD carrying men, some underground Briukhovychi raiion division of MGB dated members and insurgents hid the information 1946 have information about a liaison lady of about their disease as far as they could. After OUN, Akseniya Chorniy, who was arrested being revealed they could desert. The materials by Soviet special services and managed to of the investigation of Security Service against escape, further joining the underground. After Vasyl Malyk (“Bohdan”) conducted from June some time, SB shot down Akseniya as well as to September 1949 stated, among other things, two other underground members, whom she that he fell ill several months after joining infected with STDs according to SB.117 The OUN in December 1946. First, he tried some case materials do not directly indicate that self-treatment, and then in April next year he Akseniya was infected in a Soviet prison but went to see a doctor in Lviv where he stayed this version may be possible because such for a month. Upon return to his area “afraid practices were rather widespread. lest the insurgents liquidate him because The execution of the venereal patients in the of his troubles (a trip to Lviv, and a STD) he underground can be explained not only by the arbitrarily left the ranks of the underground lack of medications or impossibility to stop the and hid independently. The investigator states patients’ suffering. The underground leaders believed that due to the patients’ scarce chances

112 Modest Ripetskyi, Sanitarna sluzhba UPA v 114 HDA SBU, f. 13, spr. 372, t. 22, ark. 401. kureni V. Mizernoho (“Rena”): narys, Litopys UPA Kn. 115 HDA SBU, f. 13, spr. 372, t. 20, ark. 27. 1: Medychna opika v UPA. Tom. 23 (Toronto; Lviv: 116 Interview with Vanda Horchyns’ka (b. Litopys UPA, 2001), 116. 1924), recorded by M. Havryshko, 11 November 113 Ivan Lyko, Na hrani mrii i diisnosty: spohady 2016, Kopychyntsi, Ternopil’ oblast’, author’s pidpilnyka; Na hrani dvokh svitiv: Spohady. 1945-1955, private archive. ed. M. Terefenko (“Medvid’”), Litopys UPA. Tom. 117 Arckhiv AUSBU u Lvivskii oblasti, spr. 37 (Toronto; Lviv: Litopys UPA, 2002), 210. 24034, ark. 10-11.

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of recovery in the underground settings they and the UPA the so called special groups were prospective traitors as they were ready (surveillance and combat groups) created to give away to Soviets any information in pursuant to the directive of the NKGB of exchange for qualified medical aid in Soviet Ukrainian SSR No 1697/с dated 3 August medical facilities.118 Moreover, while searching 1944.120 They were established in the oblast’ for medication, the sick persons could break the and raiion units of NKVD-NKGB121. They principles of conspiracy and establish contacts were subordinate to the Main Board of Anti- with unreliable people, or stay in dangerous Banditry operations of NKVD and after 1946 localities with a great risk of being arrested to the unit 2-Н of MGB. They usually consisted and killed. Soviet special services induced of former OUN and UPA members who had persons who offered medical aid to the sick turned themselves in or had been arrested. underground members into collaboration. They also included staff officers of NKVD- On 17 June 1950, the MGB troops killed the NKGB. Numerically, the combat groups had liaison lady, Lidiya Pirey and her headman 3 to 50 persons.122 As of 20 June 1945, there of the Dubno raiion leadership of OUN Yuriy were 156 special groups in western regions Dzetsko (“Hroza”). It took over two months of Ukraine with a total of 1783 persons.123 for Soviet special services to prepare the As of 20 February 1950, only 19 such special operation, after they found out that “Hroza” groups numbering 130 persons remained.124 had already been undergoing treatment The key tasks of the special groups were to for gonorrhea at the chief of the feldsher’s capture or kill leaders of the underground or station in a village of Velyki Zhabokryky UPA, to destroy small groups of underground (Rivne Oblast’) Havryil Taranko. Taranko was members and insurgents, or to chase them visited by a venereal patient Lida to ask for into the combat operations of the units and medication. MGB recruited the doctor under troops of NKVD, to collect intelligence data, the operational nickname “Radekhovets” and to destroy the system of communications in ordered to him to call the patient to come to OUN and UPA, and to reveal and destroy the the station. During one such meeting, “Hroza” storage shelters.125 Special groups acted under and Lida were killed.119 the pretense of the SB OUN or insurgent Venereal diseases were an important factor of combat groups, thus trying not to be different everyday underground life and were one of from them in appearance, manners, weapons, the causes of indirect (non-battle) casualties and practices. The special groups disclosed of UPA and the armed underground. Women infected with STDs who were staying in 120 Dmytro Viedienieiev, Hennadii Bystrukhin, Dvobii bez kompromisiv, 288. prisons were turned against their will into a 121 One of the institutions called upon counter-insurgency tool for Soviets. to fight the underground and the UPA was a secret interdepartmental institution - the Main Department for Combating Banditry, subordinate Special Groups and Gender-Based Violence at first to the NKVD (MVD), and since January 1947 - to the MGB. 122 HDA SBU, f. 13, spr. 372, t. 82, ark. 84. In autumn 1944, Soviet authorities started 123 Ibid. 124 Litopys UPA. Nova seriia. Tom 4, 26. fighting on a large scale with the underground 125 HDA SBU, f. 13, spr. 372, vol. 72, ark. 14- 15; HDA SBU, f. 13, spr. 372, t. 82, ark. 110; Ivan 118 HDA SBU, f. 13, spr. 376, t. 28, ark.179. Bilas, Represyvno-karalna systema v Ukraini, 461- 119 Ibid., spr. 372, t. 81, ark. 224. 462.

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by the population lost their efficiency in their board of NKVD, major Sokolov.130 In order to fight against the underground and UPA.126 not evoke any suspicions, false interrogations The use of tough methods by the special groups took place with account of the methods of real resulted in uncontrolled violence against combat groups of the Security Service (SB). civilians, which was remarked both by party For instance, the interrogations of the arrested and Soviet functionaries in official documents. persons took place in safe apartments in In particular, the instructor of TsK KP(b)U, remote localities, far from the settlements, in S. Krykun, reported in February 1947 that the woods, in the basements, or in abandoned the special combat groups “were not worth houses, or in bunkers (kryivka).131 Special it, and sometimes they would even commit groups acting under the disguise of SB would robberies and beat citizens, thus undermining often use torture. The Kosharksyi report the authorities and causing discontent among mentioned above states that on 23 July 1948, the population.”127 The deputy chief of the in the village of Pidvysotske (Kozyn district, board 2-Н MGB, Pastelniak, reported in May Rivne oblast’), a special group took the 17-year- 1949 that some members of the special groups old Nina Repnytska to the woods, beat her would regularly rob people in different areas. hard during interrogation, “hung her upside They seized cattle, lard, bread, meat, and other down, inserted a club into her genital organ, food from villagers.128 The internal report of and raped her afterwards one by one.”132 After a military prosecutor of MVD regarding a the torture, she was left in the woods, where a Ukrainian military command by H. Kosharsky man found her and sent her to the hospital. In dated 15 February 1949, stated the following: the next internal report to the secretary of TsK KP(b)U, Z. Serdiuk-Kosharskyi reported that [...] gross provocative and reckless activities of some the group of the militant operative Zborovskyi special groups and arbitrary violence committed by raped Nadia Tryhub.133 the group members against the local population not The materials of investigation of the SB OUN only deteriorates the fight against banditism but imply that after the arrest of Mykola Dolia also complicates it even further.129 for collaboration with the underground in April 1946, the Kozliv raiiondivision of MGB Furthermore, the document lists the crimes (Ternopil Oblast’) offered to him to take committed by special groups in different lead of the special militant group with five localities, most frequently cases of robbery, members. It functioned under the pretense torture, and murder among civilians. of UPA. The militant group members robbed Another widespread practice of special groups the population and applied torture during included interrogations under the disguise of interrogations. During his operations as head the combat groups of SB OUN. One of the most 130 Ivan Bilas, Represyvno-karalna systema v notorious groups practicing this method was a Ukraini, 435-447. special group of the chief of Ternopil’ regional 131 HDA SBU, f. 13, spr. 372, vol. 84, ark. 8; HDA SBU, f. 13, spr. 372, t. 85, ark. 85-88. 132 Litopys UPA. Nova seriia. Tom 3, 357. 126 HDA SBU, f. 2, op. 55, spr. 3, t.1, ark. 106. 133 Litopys UPA. Nova seriia. Tom 7: Borotba 127 Volodymyr Serhiychuk, Ukrainskyi zdvyh. proty UPA i natsionalistychnoho pidpillia. Informatsiini Volyn’. 1939-1955 (Kiev, 2005), 339. dokumenty TsK KP(b)U, obkomiv partii, NKVS-MVS, 128 HDA SBU, f. 13, spr. 372, t. 83, ark. 279- MDB-KDB 1949-1959. Knyha 4: 1949-1959, eds. 281. V. Lozytskyi, M. Derkach, I. Pavlenko, A. Kentii 129 Litopys UPA. Nova seriia, Tom 3, 356. (Kyiv, 2003), 151.

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of the special group, Dolia raped four women services believed that in the context of covert in different localities. One woman whom he activities there was a huge potential in young raped was also raped by two other operatives women related with family or friendly bonds of the raiion division of MGB who were to the underground members, or women who members of the special group.134 Crimes by supported/were in favor of the underground, special militant groups, including sex crimes, or were OUN and UPA members themselves. against civilians resulted in the defamation of The underground leaders also paid attention the underground and the UPA in the eyes of to this. The guidelines for the OUN members the local population, thus reducing support dated March 1950 stipulate that: for them. In order to cultivate certain insurgents, MGB Soviet Covert Agent Network and Female keeps a close eye on all ladies having links with Erotic Resources insurgents (MGB has lists of ladies who have intimate relations with insurgents, are married to One of the effective methods to fight the anti- them, or have children from them).137 Soviet movement in Western Ukraine was to create a wide agent network subordinate The grounds to recruit women were to NKVD-NKGB. It consisted of fixed post “compromising” facts received during the spies, agents (internal agents, guides, liaison collection of information, interrogation of persons, propagandists, militants), and witnesses, or coming from the statements of informers. In 1944, there were 725 agents and the suspected women themselves. Women 5,628 informers in Western Ukraine, as of July who agreed to collaborate with the Soviet 1, 1945 – 1,200 and 10,000 respectively, whereas authorities were thoroughly briefed about as of 1 November 1946, covert agents totaled their further covert activities. In particular, 664 fixed post spies, 2,249 covert agents, and they were offered an invented story, a 18,165 informers.135 Available sources do not “legend,” a plausible explanation of how they allow a quantitative estimation of the gender had been released from arrest without any distribution among the members of the agent signed promise to cooperate with NKVD- network but they give due grounds to affirm NKGB, and also other invented facts about that local women played an important role in and beloved ones of the OUN and UPA members the secret activities of Soviet special services for interrogations to NKVD-NKGB. It bred mistrust against the nationalist underground. among the underground members and resulted in cleansing (murders of the underground/UPA Soviet special services actively kept track members and their families) at the slightest suspicion of collaboration with Soviet authorities. of the wives and lovers of the underground For instance, in January 1946, operatives of members, arrested them and tempted into Ludvypil’ district division of NKGB summoned 136 for the interview Fedora Dudar, the wife of the collaboration. At the same time, Soviet special head of a local combat group of Security Service “Karmeliuk.” Several days after her return, Fedora 134 ZKM 1, AtsDVR, Arkhiv referentury had visitors at her house – the combatants of SB OUN, found in Berezhany raiion of Ternopil’ Security Service who gunned her down, along with oblast’. her four children, and a sister. As a result, according 135 Dmytro Viedienieiev, Hennadii to the internal report of NKGB, “Karmeliuk” started Bystrukhin, Dvobii bez kompromisiv, 277. his revenge against other underground members 136 One of the methods of fighting the OUN whom he suspected of killing his family (HDA underground in the Ukrainian SSR was frequent SBU, f. 16, spr. 558, ark. 96.). the summoning of relatives (including the wives), 137 HDA SBU, f. 13, spr. 376, t. 29, ark. 378.

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the interrogation process. It was done in order from her “lover” utterly everything, such as about to avoid the disclosure of the agents and his position, his friends, his links, his most secret their liquidation by the SB OUN. In addition, assignments, etc. Thus confiding to his mistress, every woman received a customized list of he confides to the district or regional NKVD. There assignments. One of the most important tasks are many such cases in the area.139 was to collect information about the armories and food storage facilities of OUN, specific The booklet “On Methods to Deal with Young persons, combat groups, locations of the People that Bolshevik Agent Network Use and UPA units, and also about people assisting How to Resist Them” specifies the following: them. Some women received orders to kill an “Beware of the “boyfriends” or “girlfriends.” underground or UPA member, or to add some When MGB gets wind of you being engaged soporifics into the insurgents’ food or drinks. with the insurgents, they would immediately An important, if not major, precondition for send such a “boyfriend” or a “girlfriend” to executing the assignments was to win the you.”140 complete trust of the underground leaders. The Women were not merely ordered to develop erotic resources of women were considered to romantic relations with men holding high be an important tool to win such favors. The positions in the administration of the training materials for the Security Service staff underground or UPA, but also to have sex ran as follows: with them. According to the liaison lady Olha Palamarchuk, who was arrested by the When police are aware that the underground NKVD on 1 December 1944, she was ordered member they want to exploit is fond of women, they “to most often make love with Romko and try to send to him a beautiful girl as a liaison lady keep track of where he was hiding in order or a typist. They expect her to win his trust and to give him away to NKVD.”141 At the time, affection to be able to better exploit him. Such a lady “Roman” was one of the underground agent could steal or copy the instructions with no leaders in the Torchyn raiionin Volynia. risk of being caught, as the agent is commissioned During the regular briefing of a 23-year-old to steal one copy.138 MGB informer, the liaison lady Yevheniya Skushka, the special service officer A letter of the OUN headman “Bohun” of emphasized: September 1946, reads as follows: Accept anything from him [headman “Yar” — M. NKVD also resorts to the following practices: they H.], even to have sexual intercourse with him. You send women and girls agents who are assigned to are a young girl, it will not do you any harm.142 flirt with the combatants, and even with headmen, and try to bring this “flirtation” even directly In the process of training the agent to fulfill the to intimate dates. Bolsheviks obviously engage beautiful and, more importantly, whores truly 139 Ibid.,, f. 65, spr. S-9079P, t. 53, ark. 50. “skilled in their craft.” This way, in a sweet talk 140 Ibid., f. 372, t.21, ark. 402. 141 Ibid., f.13, spr. 372, t. 52, ark. 154. or in a minute of pleasure the agent can find out 142 Litopys UPA. Osnovna seriia. Tom 44. Knyha 2. Borotba z ahenturoiu: Protokoly dopytiv Sluzhby Bezpeky OUN v Ternopilshchyni 1946-1948, ed. P. Y. 138 HDA SBU, f. 13, spr. 372, t. 21, ark. 53. Potichnyi (Lviv: Litopys UPA), 2006, 140.

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task assigned to her, she was briefed in detail OUN underground side. which methods to use to win the affection of Sometimes Soviet special services forced a men. woman agent into various sexual contacts with different men, especially when it took You must be on good terms with Buryan, be good too long for her to give the information to him, when he comes back from somewhere, they wanted. During interrogations in the you shall ask him about everything necessary town of Zolotyi Potik (Ternopil Oblast’) in in the meantime. You shall ask how he feels, April 1945, Anna Vasyliv (“Marta”) gave her and check whether he is idea-driven. All of this consent to cooperate with the NKGB. Then, should be closely intertwined with love scenes, so the operative of the NKGB Board in Ternopil that he does not have a chance to think over the Oblast’, major Vivchurov impelled her to have answers to the questions asked. [an MGB operative a sexual relationship with the SB headman instructed the agent “Bura” in March 1950]143 “Taras” and other underground members nicknamed “Veles” and “Hai.”146 Based on When I meet him, I must start the conversation the SB materials of investigation, “Marta” with some love topics, and he gave me detailed failed to implement Vivchurov’s plan as she instructions how to lead such conversation, he had been dismissed from work in the OUN taught me some sensuous words and expressions underground on suspicion of secret agent that I had to use in such conversation. activities. After almost three years, she was recruited as an agent of the raiion division of This was told during SB interrogations in MGB in the Tysmenytsiaraiion. Under duress August 1948, about the instructions of the from the senior lieutenant Murehin, “Marta” MGB colonel Sheremetyev to the 20-year- undertook the commitment become involved old underground member Maria Kaliandruk in an intimate relationship with one of the (“Odarka”). She was ordered to get into a underground headmen “Baydenko.”147 sexual relationship with the UPA sotnia’s Violence was required to impel a young lady commander, “Pavlo.”144 At the same time, brought up on the principles of premarital women assigned with such tasks were virginity and chastity to fulfil the sex-based cautioned against any emotional bonds or tasks. As often as not, the NKVD and MGB feelings of love for men who were presumed officers raped women when recruiting them. to be “targets” of the secret service.145 Such It was a demonstration of power by means of emotions would obviously put at risk the sexual control. As a result, women experienced implementation of secret agents’ plans and not only humiliation but also incapability tempt the female agents into going over to the to withstand the will of their offenders. That is why they could have agreed to any 143 Litopys UPA. Nova seriia. Tom 23: Zolochivs’ka okruha OUN. Dokumenty i materialy assignments, including those going against referentury SB. 1945–1951, ed. M. Romaniuk (Kyiv; their beliefs or moral standards or which were Toronto: Litopys UPA, 2013), 519. 144 Interrogation report for Maria Kaliandruk, extremely risky. ATsDVR, coll. 79 (Archives of the Records Office of The documents imply that it was prohibited SB OUN found in Berezhany district of Ternopil’ oblast’). 145 See, for instance, the interrogation report 146 Interrogation report for Anna Vasyliv, for Anna Hrytsuliak, January 1948, ATsDVR, coll. January, 1948, coll. 79, ark.4. 79, ark. 13. 147 Ibid., ark. 24.

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for Soviet officers of law-enforcement and Almost every young woman who was arrested and state security bodies to have intimate/sexual/ engaged by Solovyov to perform the covert agent marital relations with the “foe” women who activities was used by Solovyov in a physical sense. were members of the OUN underground or He appointed all the best girls to be his personal UPA, or supported them. Soviet authorities contacts who had to please him every time they assumed that any affinity to such women delivered mail.150 could become an obstacle in the professional activities of Soviet officers. The trespassers Information on the facts was received by SB were penalized in different ways and had to staff from the female underground members bear disciplinary sanctions. In spring 1945, who had been arrested by Solovyov. One the commander of regiment 62, lieutenant of them, Liuba Staliuk, revealed during the Pavlo Timofeyev was expelled from KP(b) interrogation of SB on 20 December 1944 that U for having an “intimate relationship with Solovyov threatened to shoot her for working the daughter of the “sotnia gang commander in the underground and promised to save her of UPA.” In response, he petitioned the local from punishment if she agreed to give sexual division of NKVD not to displace her family services to him and work with the NKGB.151 to the remote areas of USSR.148 The rules for At the same time, it must be noted that the state security officers who worked with the women suspected by SB of covert agent female agents were even more rigid. Dmytro activities could have experienced violent Shyvandronov, an operative of the Zbarazh tortures at interrogations, also including raiiondivision of MVD, captured by SB OUN, sexual violence. At the interrogation of Soviet in January, 1949, gave testimony about the ban investigators in March 1948, the OUN contact on sexual relations with the arrested women Vira Melnyk recalled the torture one of the or agent women. He told that the head of high commanders of UPA, Ivan Hrychan the division for combatting banditry within (“Pashchenko”), committed on a female the raiiondivision of MDB was dismissed underground member suspected of covert when it was revealed that he had sexual activities: “Then “Pashchenko” ordered her contacts with a female secret agent and was breasts to be cut off. The bandit “Tipka” cut transferred to the position of senior operative off her left breast and she died. After that, in the raiion division of MVD.149 However, the Pashchenko talked to me and said: if you do sexual exploitation of agent women by Soviet not admit your guilt you will face the same special service officers was rather widespread. fate.”152 Hence, it might be assumed that some According to the documents of SB, Solovyov, female agents suffered sexual violence both an operative of the regional NKGB in Rivne from Soviet security bodies and from the oblast’ built a broad covert agent network OUN underground. Some of them died from around the towns of Zdolbuniv, Mizoch, and violence during interrogations. Moreover, Ostrih. After Solovyov was killed, the SB staff many women suspected of covert agent reported on 7 December 1945: 150 Litopys UPA. Nova seriia. Tom 8: Volyn, Polissia, Podillia: UPA ta zapillia 1944-1946. Dokumenty i materialy, eds. O. Vovk, S. Kokin (Kyiv; 148 Litopys UPA. Nova seriia. Tom 4, 430. Toronto: Litopys UPA, 2005), 324. 149 Interrogation report for Dmytro 151 HDA SBU, f. 13, spr. 376, t. 52, ark. 153. Shyvandronov, ATsDVR, coll. 8, t. 2, ark. 59. 152 Ibid., f. 5, spr. 67835, ark. 232-235.

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operations for the OUN underground were from the NKVD and MGB leaders to the executed as traitors. suspects, “soft” court sentences). The political significance of state violence Conclusions against women was huge. For Soviet authorities, it was a way to show their In the first ten years after the World War II, advantage over the adversaries. On the one a female body was the battlefield for two hand, it was a tool for demoralization and a different state projects in Western Ukraine symbolic act of humiliation of the “enemy” – a nationalist one and a Soviet one. They men whose masculinity was based on their both were trying to control and exploit ability to protect their women. Hence, sexual women’s sexuality in their own interests. violence against the female body became a Hence, violence against women had taken tool to develop relations of power between on an incredible scale and form. It became men on both sides of the fence and a way of a common phenomenon in the flywheel of communication between them. On the other punitive practices of Soviet authorities against hand, gender-based violence became a method the Ukrainian nationalist underground and to restrain and control “enemy” women. insurgent movement. Soviet state gender- For women accused by Soviet authorities of based violence had different manifestations relations with the OUN underground and (sexual harassment, forceful nudity, injuries UPA it functioned as torture, humiliation of genitals, infection with sexually transmitted and punishment for their “disobedience” diseases, rape, including group rape, etc.). It to Soviet men in power. Some women were took place in different stages of repression killed after rape. The survivors of sexual against women suspected/accused of links violence had to struggle with severe mental with the “enemies” of the Soviet state (, arrests, and physical consequences and searching detention, interrogations, recruiting for for their own survival strategies, which most covert agent activities). Abusers were mostly often was remaining silent. Silence resulted representatives of the counterinsurgency, not only from the feeling of shame, fear and military, and penitentiary systems of distrust of the Soviet justice system, but also Soviet authorities. The survivors of sexual the minor chance of having the perpetrators humiliation were equally both OUN female brought to responsibility. Silence was one of underground members and civilian women the protection mechanisms to avoid repetitive who would often have no relation at all to any punishment, this time from “friendly” men anti-Soviet resistance. The ideological basis for who could doubt the abusive nature of sexual violence and some kind of its legitimization relations of women with enemies and accuse was provided by numerous resolutions of them of collaboration with Soviet authorities the Political Bureau of TsK KP(b)U on the against the underground. need to reinforce the counterinsurgency At the same time, sexual violence against actions against the Ukrainian nationalist women became a tool in the struggle of Soviet underground. The same function was fulfilled authorities and the underground of OUN and by different practices connected with avoiding UPA to win over people’s loyalty. The use punishment for the abusers (covering up of gender-based violence by Soviet special crimes, delaying investigations, protection groups that acted disguised as OUN combat

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groups undermined local people’s trust in the sexual violence of Soviet authorities against nationalist underground. In fact, open Soviet women was presented as a symbol of collective repressions against women had the same victimhood of the Ukrainian nation. objectives. It was used as an argument to show that underground members were not able to protect their people from the violence of the state, but also enhanced it with their presence and activities in certain areas. Therefore, it About the author might be assumed that fear of state-backed Marta Havryshko holds a Ph.D. in History. terror resulting from the experiences of local She is a research fellow at the Department of men and women in Western Ukraine would Contemporary History, Ivan Krypiakevych inevitably adjust their attitude towards the Institute of Ukrainian Studies of the Ukrainian authorities and become an effective tool to National Academy of Sciences. She was a shape “Soviet people.” Visiting Lecturer at the Ukrainian Catholic The nationalist underground had different University (2017, 2011). Havryshko was a assumptions. The underground leaders Robert Bosch Stiftung fellow at German believed that making the sexual violence Historical Institute in Warsaw, Ada Booth public could be an effective tool of anti-Soviet fellow at Monash University, and DAAD propaganda and subsequently of supporting fellow in the Hamburg Foundation for the nationalist underground in the fight against Advancement of Research and Culture. She Soviet authorities. The harassment of women’s is the author of a book and several articles bodies that is encoded in nationalist narratives about gendered experiences of the Ukrainian as the “political body” of the nation is treated nationalist underground. Her research as an attack against the entire nation, thus interests are primarily focused on sexual having huge capacity to shape the image of an violence during armed conflicts, gender and enemy and encouraging mobilization against war/genocide, oral history, memory studies. them. Thus, in OUN propaganda material and She is also currently conducting research on in statements addressing people, the topic of women at war in Donbas.

Euxeinos, Vol. 9, No. 27 / 2019 113 Landscape, Culture, Identity: Repatriation of Crimean Tatars and the Processes of Constructing the Placenion

by Olena Sobolieva

Abstract The article analyzes the issue of constructing the place during the process of repatriation and adaptation of Crimean Tatars in their ethnic homeland. The actions of the Soviet totalitarian regime resulting in mass deportations of national groups and ethnic repressions caused latent ethno-social conflicts in the Crimean region. The consequences of the controversies can be seen in the present-day reality of the political and cultural life of the peninsula. The study offers insights into how common memory about the life in the native land and the image of a native home impacted the repatriation process of Crimean Tatars in Crimea. The return of Crimean Tatars was accompanied by a symbolic reconstruction of the ethnic homeland lost in the years of exile, and also by the construction of an entirely new environment where repatriates have become visible social actors.

Key words: Constructing the place, repatriation, Crimean Tatars, cultural landscape, national identity

he family of Afize Mambetova keeps a next to landmarks or even next to common Tphoto report of the journey to Crimea the houses. These are heritage trips of the de- family took back in 1959. For the first time af- ported Crimean Tatars to their native places ter many years of living in Central Asia, the where their families used to live before. The family came to its native land, the steppes of journeys broke the ice for remembering and Crimea and the village of Otuz, Chornomorsk reconstructing, and later for returning to the district. They rented a car and set out to the cultural landscape of Crimea lost during the abandoned and ruined settlement of their an- years of deportation. cestors. They found a well and an old dilapi- Twentieth century Crimea was a testing dated abandoned village house. On their way ground for demographic experiments of the back to the city, they were caught in the heavy Soviet authorities and an arena of mass vio- rain and got stuck in puddles of water. Afize lence. In the middle of the 20th century during recounts that everyone was happy to have the Second World War, deportation affected this forced delay as they were enjoying every Crimean Tatars as well as Greek, Armenian, moment of the stay in their homeland. During German, Bulgarian, and Roma people. As that time, deported persons were banned from a result, hundreds of villages and towns of staying in the settlements of Crimea longer Crimea were emptied, while the ethnic com- than several days.1 In the photo, we can see a position of the population and living pat- woman with a smile on her face and a piece terns were entirely transformed. A complete of clay in her hands, a piece of her native land remodeling of the space took place. During (see Fig. 1-3). Virtually every Crimean Tatar the course of several years, Soviet authorities family must keep such a photo in their fami- started creating compensatory settlements in ly album dating back to 1960-1990. There, we the deserted regions with the people coming can see individual people or entire families from other areas. Such acts by the authori- travelling around Crimea and taking photos ties led both to the physical displacement of 1 Interview with Afize, b. 1923, Yevpatoria, groups of population, and subsequently fully 2010, recorded by T. Velychko

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deconstructed the ethno-national and cultur- Lieux de Memoires).2 The analytical category al boundaries of Crimea. The article analyzes of places of memory could also be used in the the problem of recreating the memory of the study of the processes of return migration of historical territory of the Crimean Tatars. The Crimean Tatars. However, if we consider the focus of the research is on the significance of experience of this community, the remember- memory and collective experiences in the (re) ing and commemorative practices are only construction of space and the cultural land- part of a more comprehensive and multifac- scape upon the repatriation of Crimean Tatars eted process of return to the space and re-ter- that coincided with the collapse of the Soviet ritorization. Union. We suggest considering the issues of Regarding the problems related to approaches the return of Crimean Tatars to their histor- to space, I believe the most fruitful to be the ical homeland and the reclamation of their research results in the field of cultural anthro- symbolic rights for their ethnic lands not only pology and cultural geography. Cultural ge- from the standpoint of official discourse of ographers, in particular, actively use the term representatives of the Crimean Tatar self-gov- ‘cultural landscape’ to imply a combination of ernment (such as the Mejlis of the Crimean natural environment and the results of human Tatar People), but also in terms of personal ex- activities and culture.3 In this respect, cultural periences of common people who have their activities of humans are considered not only own stories of deportation and return, which with regard to their material manifestations are intertwined into collective experience in (architecture, settlements, economic activi- different ways. The sources of this research are ties), but also as expressed by perceptions, field studies that took place between 2006 and folklore, artistic literature, public speeches, 2011 in Crimea, and in 2015 in Kyiv, as well etc. The concept presented in a book “Map- as the narrative analysis of national print and ping the Invisible Landscape” by Kent Ryden online media (Avdet, Holos Krymu (The Voice is of particular significance. It suggests that of Crimea), Crimean Tatars, blogs on Facebook cultural landscape exists and is modelled not social media). only in its physical manifestation, but also through viva voce traditions, folklore, and The theoretical and methodological basis for mythology, and under certain conditions this the study of places invisible landscape shall be materialized.4 The link between a territory and identity is an The range of issues on the bonds of historical important topic of research of cultural anthro- memory and the territory, as well as territorial pologists as well. Sociocultural anthropology identity, is represented in the research of many specifically highlighted a separate trend of social disciplines such as cultural anthropolo- 2 Nora Pierre 2005 “Vsemirnoe torzhestvo gy, history, cultural geography, and sociology. pamyati“, Neprikosnovennyiy zapas, 2-3(40-41), In the contemporary research of commemora- http://magazines.russ.ru/nz/2005/2/nora22.html 3 Hrymych, Maryna 2016 “Kulturnyi tive practices and the place, they effectively landshaft: terminolohichnyi ekskurs“ Antropolohiia employ different interpretations of the- con prostoru: zbirnyk naukovykh prats u 4 t. red. Maryna Hrymych. Kyiv: Duliby, T. 1: Kulturnyi landshaft cept of the French researcher Pierre Nora, who Kyieva ta okolyts, 316. introduced the idea of ‘places of memory’ (Les 4 Ryden, Kent C. 1993 Mapping the Invisible Landscape: Folklore, Writing, and the Sense of Place. Iowa City, IA: University of Iowa Press, 304.

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anthropology of space and place. For this re- lective memory of homeland and the crimes of search, it is important to consider the assump- deportation through generations that helped tion that space is directly constructed through consolidate the community in the fight against the meanings that individuals or groups of communist rule and in the pursuit of their people assign to it. This standpoint allows us right to return.10 The issues of relevance of col- to consider space both as a physical category lective memory and trauma in the processes and also as a combination of human practices, of political consolidation and re-territoriza- ideas, emotional bonds, customs and bodily tion of Crimean Tatars in the successive years experiences.5 The works of anthropologists remained a focus of historians and anthropol- actively employ the term of “producing the ogists.11 For instance, the problem is studied space.” It emphasizes the fact that a human be- in a monograph by US anthropologist Greta ing or a group of people shape their own actu- Uehling.12 The article by sociologists Theodore al space through their daily activities, through P. Gerber and Marina Zaloznaya13 also elabo- verbalization practices, and through move- rates on how constructs of collective memory ment and their everyday itineraries. The con- have become the basis for the mobilization cept of movement is of particular importance and shaping of group motivation for return in the study of communities moving within migration (repatriation). The authors of the the space, such as migrants. The relationship article approach voluntary group migration as between the two concepts of space and move- a social ideology-based movement manifested ment is highly instrumental to understand- in the mobilization of the community in order ing the construction of current Crimean Tatar to reach the supra-individual goal. The scope identity. of political anthropology is reflected in the re- The link between the concepts of identity, search on land disputes in Crimea in the pe- memory and territory is a focus of researchers riod of adaptation of Crimean Tatars in their th of history of Crimean Tatars in the 20 centu- 10 Williams, B. Glyn 2002. “The hidden eth- ry. Most researchers studying the issues of de- nic cleansing of Muslims in the Soviet Union: The exile and repatriation of the Crimean Tatars“. Jour- portation and repatriation of Crimean Tatars nal of Contemporary History, 37(3): 345. considered the importance of the concept of 11 Sasse, Gwendolyn 2007 The Crimea ques- tion: identity, transition, and conflict. Harvard Uni- historical lands and ethnic landscape. They versity Press. 400; Aydıngün, Ayşegül, and Er- include, in particular, A. Fisher,6 P.-R. Mago- doğan Yıldırım 2010 “Perception of homeland among Crimean Tatars: cases from Kazakhstan, Uz- chy,7 E. Allworth,8 B. Williams9. In his research bekistan and Crimea.” Türk Dünyası Sosyal Bilimler on the issues of deportation and repatriation, Dergisi Yaz, Issue 54: 21–46; Sobolieva, Olena 2011 “Formuvannia obrazu etnichnoi batkivshchyny Williams states that it is the transference of col- krymskykh tatar v umovakh repatriatsii ta oblashtuvannia v AR Krym“ Materialy do ukrainskoi 5 Low, Setha M. 2009 “Towards an anthro- etnolohii 10(13): 44–51; Kyslyi, Martin-Oleksandr pological theory of space and place.” Semiotica.175 2015 “Dytynstvo deportovanykh krymskykh tatar (2009): 21-37. v Uzbekystani u 1950-kh rokakh (za materialamy 6 Fisher, A. W. 1978. Crimean Tatars. Hoover spohadiv).“ Naukovi zapysky NaUKMA. Istorychni Press. 264 nauky. 169: 52-58.. 7 Magochii P.-R. 2014 Krym nasha 12 Uehling, Greta 2004 Beyond memory: the blahoslovenna zemlia. Uzhhorod. 159. Crimean tatars’ deportation and return. New York, 8 Allworth, E. (Ed.). 1998. The Tatars of 294. Crimea: return to the homeland: studies and documents. 13 Zaloznaya, Marina, and Theodore P. Ger- Duke University Press. ber. 2012 “Migration as Social Movement: Volun- 9 Williams, B. G. 2001. The Crimean Tatars: tary Group Migration and the Crimean Tatar Re- the diaspora experience and the forging of a nation (Vol. patriation.” Population and Development Review 38.2: 2). Brill. 488. 259-284.

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homeland.14 The important argument pursued pire, mostly to Anatolia, but also to Bulgaria by the authors is that the feeling of belonging and Romania. Trying to make up for demo- to a place has a direct impact on the develop- graphic losses, the Tsarist government started ment of demands to allocate individual land resettling people from other regions of the em- plots to the ownership of Crimean Tatars. pire to the emptied areas. As a result of these Therefore, as the abovementioned brief over- resettling policies, the prevalence of Crimean view implies, the study of the issues of iden- Tatars in the region shifted to Slavonic dom- tity and space can be localized at the intersec- ination.15 According to 1782 data, 411,000 tion of several study areas, such as cultural Crimean Tatars lived in Crimea (95 % of the geography focusing on space; history focusing total population), while in 1864, after two on time; and cultural anthropology focusing large waves of immigration and due to natural on everyday human experiences. population growth, Crimean Tatars numbered 100,000 thousand persons and made up only The Historical and Social Context: Crimean half of the residents of the peninsula (Roslavt- Tatars in the Long 19th Century and the Short seva, 2008: 34).16 According to the 1926 census, 20th Century the number of Crimean Tatars was only 25 % of the total population of Crimea.17 In order to determine the place of the Crime- Still in the early 20th century, before the arriv- an Tatar ethnic community within the cultural al of Soviet authorities, Crimean Tatars were environment of the peninsula, it is essential to quite a heterogeneous ethnonational com- provide an overview of the ethno-demograph- munity by origin and identity. At that time, ic dynamics of the population in Crimea, and local identity prevailed, based on relation to to present the ethnohistorical regional char- a specific locality (village, town, valley) and acteristics of the Crimean Tatar communi- ethno-religious identity (by culture, language, ty. Crimean Tatars developed mainly on the and religion). In the first half of the 20th centu- Crimean peninsula and in the steppe part of ry, there was still quite a distinctive division Ukraine on the basis of the Turkic speaking of Crimean Tatars into several local and terri- population of the Black Sea steppe area, most- torial groups with their peculiar linguistic and ly Kipchaks-Polovtsi, and the multiethnic pop- cultural features. ulation of Crimean mountains. The establish- At that time, Crimean Tatars preserved an ment of Crimean Khanate was a driving force expressive sub-ethnic and sub-regional iden- behind the assimilation and consolidation tity. Significant cultural and dialect distinc- processes among the population of the Crime- 15 Shvets, A. B. 2008 “Osobennosti vzaimod- an region. When Crimea joined the Russian eystviya dominiruyuschih etnosov v kulturnyih Empire in 1783, the negligent Russian govern- landshaftah sovremennogo Kryima.” Uchenyie za- piski Tavricheskogo natsionalnogo universiteta im. V. I. ment policy for integration of Crimean Tatars Vernadskogo 21(3) http://www.nbuv.gov.ua/portal/ resulted in several huge waves of emigration natural/uztnu/zapiski/2008/geography/uch_21_3g/ shvets_47.pdf of Crimean Tatars in 1783-1784, 1854-1862, 16 Roslavtseva, L. I. 2008 Kryimskie tataryi: and in 1870 to the territory of the Ottoman Em- istoriko-etnograficheskoe issledovanie. Moskva: MAKS Press, 333. 17 Aybabin, A. I. Gertsen A. G., and Hrapu- 14 Bogomolov, A. V., Danilov S. I., and Semi- nov I. N. 1993 “Osnovnyie problemyi etnicheskoy volos I. N. 2012 “Zemelnyie sporyi kak faktor sotsi- istorii” Materialyi po arheologii istorii i etnografii Tav- alnyih konfliktov v Krymu.” Shidniy svit 4: 164-188. rii 3: 217.

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tions were manifest among different territo- Tatars. No one ever asked who we were. Everyone rial groups of Crimean Tatars. It is generally must have known we were Tatars, except for us. acceptable to divide Crimean Tatars into three Rural residents were called koj adamlary [rural major local (subethnic) groups: jalyboilu, tat – people].”19 residing on the south coast of Crimea; ortalar – mountain people, or the residents of the so Thus, the regional identity of Crimean Tatars called “central (midland) part”; steppe Tatars, before deportation was rather fragmented and sometimes referred to as nogjajlar (in the 1st half heterogeneous. It showed the entire complex- of the 20th century the general number of the ity of cultural and historical processes in the steppe group of Crimean Tatars was signifi- region of Crimea. cantly lower than in the mountain and south coast regions).18 A detailed look at the ethnic How the Collective Trauma of Crimean Ta- culture of Crimean Tatars shows that there tars and the Experience of Forced Migration was a more detailed division within each of Affected the Self-Perception and the Feeling the groups, for example according to the river of Place valleys: the Belbek or Kacha group. Presently, the academic discourse has featured peculiar Crucial changes in the Crimean cultural land- sub-ethnonyms such as dzhenavyzler (origi- scape and in the identity of Crimean Tatars, nates from the word ‘Genoese’, as the resi- such as in the aspects of territorial affiliation dents of the village of Foti-Sala, Bakhchysaray and the feeling of place, occurred after the district, were called, where many Genoese 1944 deportation act. A formal basis for mass people settled down in late Middle Ages);kjat - deportation of Crimean Tatars was the accusa- fryd (comes from ‘gotfrid’ – the name for some tion of ‘State treason’ and collaboration with people in the mountainous areas of Crimea, the German army that was raised towards the around the villages of Markur and Bahatyr, entire nation. Pursuant to the secret resolu- Bakhchysaray district); mare (part of south tion of the State Committee of Defense of the coast Tatars); terakaj (Kerch Crimean nogai). USSR dated 11 May 1944, No 5859 сс, signed There are records that even in the middle of by Stalin, on 18 May, the operation started to the 20th century Crimean Tatars, who were not displace the Crimean Tatar population from part of the intellectual or cultural intelligentsia Crimea to the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic group, did not have any fully shaped national and to some other regions of the Soviet Union. idea or feeling of belonging. A female resident According to official data, over 191,000- per of the mountainous Crimea recalls how her sons in total were banished from Crimea in family and relatives saw themselves: several days.20 After the war, they also sent all demobilized men who were serving in the Red In the past, I have not even heard any word like Army at the time of deportation to the Central Asian Republics. People were transported in 18 Chubarov E. red. 2005 Ocherki istorii i kul- turyi kryimskih tatar. Simferopol : Kryimskoe ucheb- 19 Interview with Fevziya, b. 1933, Nyzhnia no-pedagogicheskoe gosudarstvennoe izdatelstvo: Holubenka, 2006. 21-23; Ebubekirov, Server. 2003 “Etnolinhvistychna 20 Chubarov E. red. 2005 Ocherki istorii i kul- dyferentsiatsiia krymskykh tatar” Visnyk Kyivskoho turyi kryimskih tatar. Simferopol: Kryimskoe ucheb- natsionalnoho universytetu imeni Tarasa Shevchenka: no-pedagogicheskoe gosudarstvennoe izdatelstvo: Istoriia 67: 17–18. 76.

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freight wagons and children and older people An important consequence of the forced de- often did not survive the trip and died on the portation of Crimean Tatars was the diffusion way to deportation destinations. At the places and blurring of internal cultural and territorial of deportation, Crimean Tatars lived under ex- boundaries within the community of Crimean tremely cruel conditions in special settlements Tatars itself. At the same time, the collective and under the curfew closing time that lasted memory of the ethnic territory and the trau- until 1956. Every month, they had to undergo ma of losing it shaped the ideological core registration. They were banned from visiting that facilitated the political consolidation of neighbouring places, even in case of death of the Crimean Tatar people during the years of someone in the family.21 Perpetrators were exile. sentenced to 20 to 25 years of penal labour for After the forceful loss of the territory and the breech of the set rules. In the first years of upon integration into an entirely new and deportation, a huge number of people died of unfamiliar cultural environment, the terri- undernutrition and different diseases. torial and national identity of Crimean Ta- While Crimean Tatars stayed in different areas tars adapted. The ethnic policy of the Soviet of displacement, the Soviet authorities initiat- government justified the act of deportation ed the process of “Slavonization” of Crimea. with moral and ethical categories of treason, It took only several years to rename almost all and its condemnation encouraged Crimean Crimean Tatar toponyms in Crimea. Mosques Tatars to consolidate and engage in resis- and public places were converted to serve oth- tance. The main goal of the political strug- er needs and Islamic cemeteries destroyed. At gle was not only the return of the Crimean the same time, a process was initiated to set- Tatars to the historical homeland, but also tle people coming from other regions of the moral rehabilitation after the unfair accusa- USSR, mostly from Central Russia, in devas- tions of crimes aimed at the entire community. tated villages and towns. However, Soviet offi- In this respect, we could rely on the ana- cials went the extra mile beyond demographic lytical pieces by A. Etkind based on field and landscape transformations. In this period, research of Soviet society and cultural a gradual process started to obliterate or nega- trauma. While describing the outcomes of tivize information about the Crimean Tatars in repression, he articulates that several gen- history textbooks and reference books.22 Thus, erations had to live through the disaster. after only several decades, few things within While the first generation faced a major blow, the the Crimean space were really reminiscent of second and the third generations felt grief the presence of the Crimean Tatar community and anger. They are not the eye-witnesses of in the recent past. the events, but they recreate the disastrous experience of their parents and grandparents 21 Khaiali, Rustem 2013 “Deportatsiia krymskykh tatar ta rehuliuvannia orhanizatsii through other means of expression such as rezhymu yikh spetsposelen (1944–1948 rr.)”. literature, poetry, cinema, and even scholarly Yurydychna Ukraina, 3: 21-26; Honcharov 23 O. P., Khomenko M. M. 2003 “Usna istoriia historiography. krymskotatarskoho narodu KhKh stolittia (za In the case of the Crimean Tatars, we could materialamy etnoloho-kraieznavchoi ekspedytsii)” Visnyk Kyivskoho natsionalnoho universytetu imeni Tarasa Shevchenka: Istoriia 67: 60–66.. 23 Etkind, Aleksandr 2013 “Rabota gorya i 22 Magochii P.-R. 2014 Krym nasha utehi melanholii” Neprikosnovennyiy zapas 89 (3) blahoslovenna zemlia. Uzhhorod. 130. http://www.nlobooks.ru/node/3730

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trace the same processes of coping with the Next, the author of the article substantiates disaster and grief. It is probable that experi- the need to introduce a new date to commem- encing unfair punishment and the new feel- orate the feat of the second and third gener- ing of belonging to a specific place (Crimea) ations who had become a social basis for the resulted into a large-scale political movement resistance movement and managed to arrange of resistance of Crimean Tatars to Soviet au- mass repatriation: thorities, and led to return migration. It was the second and the third generation who The mass return of the people to their Homeland had to bear the social economic and material after half a century of exile is not an easy thing. It hardships of spontaneous repatriation that is not a one-day process. And neither one month, was taking place in the 1980s and 90s. One of nor one year or even a decade can suffice. Home- the mottos of repatriation was the rehabilita- coming is something that is still taking place and tion of dignity and renewal of justice in respect will last for many more years to come. I believe it to parents and grandparents, as well as the is high time. It is now, in the hard times, when the willingness to give them an opportunity “to glorified date is strongly needed for our people.25 die in their native land.” Just as during the last half of a century, now- Therefore, the important factors shaping adays there is a relevant discourse (both group identity of Crimean Tatars and the feel- public and private) of coping with the loss ing of belonging to a place presently include due to deportation. For many decades, the two different vectors of migration taking place Crimean Tatars grieved for the victims of in the 20th century over 50 years: maleficent deportation on the day of commemoration forced deportation of 1944, and mass repatria- on May 18. However, today, the public dis- tion after the fall of the Soviet Union. course maintained by the third generation raises the issue of introducing a new date of Homecoming of Crimean Tatars and Recla- commemoration – “The Homecoming Day,” mation of a Symbolic Right to Land “Avdet Kuniu.” In the following, the signif- icance of the day of grievance, May 18, for The attempts of Crimean Tatars to return to Crimean Tatars is explained by the author of their ethnic homeland started in the 1960s, es- the initiative in the ‘Avdet’ newspaper: pecially after 1967, when the decree on the ille- gitimate nature of previous allegations against Every Crimean Tatar person carries within himself Crimean Tatars was adopted. However, the a huge pain of his people, the grief carefully trans- Soviet government failed to go further than ferred through generations so that the descendants the mere declarative rehabilitation of Crime- did not forget the injustice thousands of innocent an Tatars, as they received the actual right to people faced when deported to the remote steppes of return much later. In the 1960s/80s, a large- Middle Asia and the cold lands of Siberia. May 18 scale phenomenon occurred among Crimean is a day to commemorate – it is the day burnt out and indented in everyone’s heart overflowing with Tatars 17.06.2017 https://www.crimeantatars.club/ blogs/nashemu-narodu-nuzhen-avdet-kunyu-den- love to its people and to the Homeland.24 vozvrashheniya 25 Kerimov Emir “Chto na drugoy chashe 24 Kerimov Emir “Nashemu narodu nuyhen vesov“Avdet 19.06.2017 avdet.org/ru/2017/06/19/ ‘avdet kuniu’ - ‘den vozvrashchenia“ Crimean chto-na-drugoj-chashe-vesov/

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Tatars that could be described as ‘heritage the young people, I think, they do not care now. It tourism’, if ‘tourism’ is the right word for des- was a different time back then, you know.26 perate attempts of Crimean Tatar families to come back to their native villages or family The trips preceded the first attempts to resettle homes at least for several days. Entire families in Crimea permanently. As we know, most of went to Crimea “for vacation.” During their them failed. stay on the peninsula, Crimean Tatars visited The relocation of Crimean Tatars took place on their native villages, came back to their fami- a truly massive scale in the late 1980s and the ly homes, and looked for remains of cemeter- early 1990s. The mass migration of Crimean ies with their ancestral graves, and travelled returnees to their native lands accelerated due around the peninsula. They brought ‘souve- the crisis of the Soviet system and the collapse nirs’ from Crimea for their friends and rela- of the totalitarian state, the proclamation of tives, such as water from the wells, a bit of soil, Ukraine’s independence and the adoption of a or an apple from their home garden. During number of legal acts in the newly created gov- those first trips they attempted to recreate, at ernment that facilitated repatriation processes least in their minds, their former space, their for citizens who suffered from political repres- native landscape and territories where the sions.27 Crimean Tatars had been displaced from. For Even though Crimean returnees actively rec- instance, Shefia reminisces about the trips to reated the old pre-deportation Crimea in their Crimea to her parental village of Otuz (pres- imagination and in narratives, in reality the ently Shepetivka) in the second half of the 20th cultural landscape of the Crimean peninsula century: underwent a crucial transformation. The re- turnees themselves, upon their return while Whenever you go there, you bring along a stone, settling down in their homeland, created an a piece of soil, some water – people were bringing entirely new cultural and geographical image along whatever they could. Yes, indeed, in order of Crimea. to have it. I remember there was heavy rain and When coming to Crimea, Crimean Tatar fam- I ran there (it was already in 1976), to the place, ilies faced the choice of their place of resi- the village, and I took some water from the well, dence. The main factors defining the choice for my granny, the one whose house it was. I am for places of residence were economic and telling you her grandmother was still alive. I administrative preconditions. As we know, needed it for her, I was taking it to bring to her in the late 1980s, Crimean Tatars were still some water from Crimea, from her well. That’s banned from settling in the southern resort that. There’s my late uncle, they used to have their areas and the area around the city of Simfero- own vine grove near the sea, so he brought some soil from there, then he brought a little stone, right from Otuz. Every time we received a letter I would 26 Interview with Shefia, b. 1934, Shcheb- write back to have us with them, and we used to etivka, 2010. kiss the letter, and the seal. And we cried over. Oh, 27 Khavadzhy D.R. 2008 “Pravovi pidstavy repatriatsii osib, deportovanykh za natsionalnoiu yes! Well, it’s these days that you have it this way, oznakoiu, do krymskoi oblasti URSR“ Krymskyi but back then, especially the old people, the old peo- yurydychnyi visnyk. Naukovyi zbirnyk. 3 (4) http:// www.nbuv.gov.ua/portal/soc_gum/Kyuv/2008_3/3- ple in particular [they were grieving – S.O.]. Well, 4/18.pdf

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pol.28 The choice for the place of residence the district of the steppe part of Crimea. The was also predetermined by economic factors: situation is even more indicative in the west- proximity to big cities and infrastructure. To- ern steppe part of Crimea, such as Saky dis- day, the largest numbers of Crimean Tatars trict and the town of Yevpatoria (large urban live in central parts of the peninsula: Bakh- and resort center of the region). Only five of chisaray, Simferopol, Bilohirsk districts. A 35 respondents come from central mountain- large share of Crimean Tatars also resides in ous areas of Crimea, while others were born the eastern part of the peninsula (Leninskyi, in western steppe parts of Crimea (Rozdolne, Nyzhniohirskyi districts, Feodosia municipal- Saky, Chornomorske districts, etc.), and in the ity). When asked why families returned to a town of Yevpatoria. During the two field trips specific area, respondents usually reply that to the western steppe part of Crimea (2007 and their decisions were only governed by the cir- 2010), we never met any natives from the parts cumstances. In other words, they were settling of the southern coast of Crimea, even though whenever they were able to. For example, let we do not exclude their minor presence in us consider the analysis of information collect- this region. In the eastern sub-mountain part ed in six different districts of Crimea during of Crimea (the town of Staryi Krym, Kirovske between 2006 and 2011. In this study, 212 old district and the surrounding areas, and also residents were interviewed. Only 19% of them settlements in the suburbs of Feodosia), the re- (41 persons) returned to the area they were settlement map is totally different – 21 of the born. Only 8 % (17 persons) returned to their 43 interviewed respondents originate from native village or town. However, a more de- the southern coast of Crimea, mostly from the tailed analysis of the results of ethnographic eastern part (villages of Uskut, Tarakhtash, fieldwork shows a certain territorial pattern Vorun, a.o.). Other informants were born in in the settlement of Crimean Tatars based sub-mountain Crimea and eastern steppe on the pre-war reality. Despite administra- parts (Lenine, Sovietskyi, Kirovske districts). tive or economic constraints, Crimean Tatar The population of the capital of the Autono- families did choose to settle in the areas clos- mous Republic of Crimea, the city of Simfero- est to their ancestral pre-deportation places of pol, and the surroundings, is the most diverse residence in terms of geography and climatic (12 of the 31 respondents come from the moun- conditions. tainous region, 14 from the southern coast, In particular, in the town of Bakhchisaray and while 5 persons come from the steppe part of in the villages of Bakhchisaray district, of the Crimea). Even though the number of Crimean 60 respondents born in Crimea prior to depor- Tatars is much lower than in the mountainous tation, 43 persons originate from the moun- and steppe parts, there are also many people tainous and sub-mountain Crimea (Bakhchis- on the southern coast originating from this re- aray, Bilohirsk, Simferopol districts), while gion. All respondents we talked to during the 31 persons were born in this area. Only 10 re- fieldwork (2009–2010) come from this region. spondents were born in the villages of south- Moreover, 9 of the 10 persons interviewed ern coast, while seven persons were born in in three settlements (Dachne, Shchebetivka, and Soniachna Dolyna) are currently residing 28 Bogomolov, A. V., Danilov S. I., and Semi- in villages they were born in or where their volos I. N. 2012 “Zemelnyie sporyi kak faktor sotsi- alnyih konfliktov v Krymu“. ShIdniy svIt 4:164. parents come from. Only one respondent was

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born in the steppe part of Crimea, but settled place. It is hard to explain. But it is a fact.29 down on the southern coast along with her husband, a native coaster. This data is obvi- An important part of the repatriation process ously not final. The provided statistics are rel- were travels to native villages and grandpar- ative, since the main objective of the field work ents’ homes. The following is an excerpt from was to record extended interviews on ethno- an interview about how a Crimean Tatar fam- graphic topics, not to record quantitative data. ily was searching for the place where an old Nonetheless, even the rough numbers could village used to be: show certain regularities in settling patterns, thus in the present-day self-identification of M. It felt so insulting when we moved here in territorial groups of Crimean Tatars with cer- 1991. We went to check where it was, their father’s tain regions on the Crimean peninsula. The (my master’s) village. Djugen, also coming from problem of territorial allocation of Crimean Razdolnoye (Aqseyh) district. There was only a Tatars needs further research involving special well remaining. In fact, only half of it. They de- sociological methods. The respondents them- stroyed it. The houses – there was not a single piece selves stated that they identified themselves of a house. with specific Crimean landscapes. The follow- Ak. Even no foundations. Even the cemetery – is ing is an excerpt from an interview recorded no longer there. in the Crimean Tatar neighborhood of the city M. We went to the place of my village. The same of Yevpatoria: there. Not even a well. Ak. Nothing left, entirely smashed. - Why Yevpatoria? Why the steppe part of Crimea? M. We were so upset, very upset. - There was no other place back then. In this part, […] the steppe part, there was nothing available no- Ak. It was only because my father was 12 when where. Only Yevpatoria, it was a sort of a center. they were deported. My late father’s memory was The center of the steppe region. strong enough. It was only due to his memory that - But still not in Bakhchisaray? Are there Crimean we could locate the place. There was no road, noth- Tatars, too? ing, only the well helped. The well and whatever - You see, it is difficult to place a nogai into moun- you name it? The place where they disposed the tains. And vice versa, - you cannot force a ‘tat’ into coal – kultobe. Kultobe only remained. But it was the steppe. It is engraved in the genes, you know. already covered with earth, he recognized the place I actually went to visit Bakhchisaray, or Simfer- only due to the well and the kultobe.30 opol, and I don’t feel comfortable there. My son- in-law comes from Bakhchisaray. He is a ‘tat’, so Of particular interest is the story of return to we come to visit them. […] There is some kind of the native village of the family of Refat Mus- discomfort. And here I come to Ismail-Bey – I feel limov recorded in summer 2010 in the village at home! When I first came here in 1992, there was of Soniachna Dolyna. The interview describes nothing available apart from wild weeds. But the the forms and methods of regional adapta- place seemed so near and dear! Despite the fact that the mosquitos are giant! I woke up in the morn- 29 Interviews with Akim, b. 1967, Yevpato- ing all swollen up. But still, I feel it is a home ria, 2010. 30 Interviews with Akim, b. 1967, Mestura, b. 1935, Yevpatoria, 2010.

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tion of Crimean Tatars in the conditions of so- built temporary structures on them to mark cio-cultural life on the peninsula at that time each individual plot. Later, usually after sev- as illustrated by one family, and by a small eral years of negotiating with the local admin- community of the village of Soniachna Doly- istration and court procedures, the property na (near the city of Sudak). Refat’s family was was privatized and the ownership allocated one of the few Crimean Tatar families who re- to the picketers. The main idea behind the turned to Crimea in the late 1960s when the acts of land activists was to reclaim property ban on official registration of Crimean Tatars rights to land for the returnees in their ances- in Crimean villages was still on. They had to tral lands. As the researchers A. Bohomolov, undergo a number of administrative obstacles S. Danylov, and N.Semyvolos duly stated in and everyday hardships. Refat largely contrib- their article, such approaches are based on uted to the rebirth of the Crimean Tatar com- the principles of moral economy and the dis- munity in his native village, and also to the course of restitution of the lost property due to renovation and revival of Muslim landmarks deportation, since the discussions on the need and to raising awareness of the native lands. to resume the right to the ‘parental, ancestral As a result of the many years of persistent home’ are very widespread.32 In one of the in- work in research of the history of the area, terviews to local press in 2017, a Crimean Ta- Refat published a monograph about his na- tar who was risking exemption from property tive village, the history of its citizens, culture, rights to the land plot and who experienced and ethnography in 2010.31 The example of the pressure from the local administration de- 78-year-old Refat-aga, a mechanical engineer, scribes in much detail the idea that Crimean is interesting also in terms of being illustra- Tatars invested into the concept of land as tive of the important role of affiliation with private property: “For me – being deprived the place and national identity in repatriation of land means being deprived of homeland.” processes. The American researcher Greta Uehling After the places of residence were selected, a studied the problem of “squatting” of land lengthy process of obtaining land plots and plots by representatives of the Crimean Ta- building houses started. The under-regulat- tar community and aptly observed that the ed legal framework for the mechanism of al- main strategy of the returnees was to appeal locating land and housing to the ownership to self-sacrifice, while the entire process of of returnees resulted into conflicts over ‘land defending their land titles had an expressed issues.’ In fact, for several decades, the most performative nature.33 From the very first widespread form of meeting the demand for years of repatriation, the construction of pri- land or housing for Crimean Tatar return- vate households and land ‘activism’ made ees (a cause also later joined by some Slavic Crimean Tatars quite noticeable social ac- residents of the peninsula) was the so called tors in the visual landscape of Crimea. The ‘squatting’. For that purpose, the self-orga- so called “compact settlements” with the nized groups of returnees found mostly ne- glected and state-owned land plots and ar- 32 Bogomolov, A. V., Danilov S. I., and Semi- volos I. N. 2012 “Zemelnyie sporyi kak faktor sotsi- ranged there the fields for pickets. Then they alnyih konfliktov v Krymu.“ ShIdniy svIt 4: 181. 33 Uehling, Greta 2004 Beyond memory: the 31 Muslimov R., Sudaknyn’ il’vany Kioz, Ak- Crimean tatars’ deportation and return. New York: mesdzhyt, 2010. 221.

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new developments, with mosques and min- an Tatar Crimea. It cannot be reconstructed arets, are found in all regions of Crimea and in detail but it can be remembered and con- produce an entirely new image of towns, vil- structed in the mind. lages, and their public spaces. A recent form of recreating and forwarding re- gional identity and collective memory of terri- Reconstruction of Imaginary Landscape and torial origin is the tradition of annual meetings Creation of a New Environment of people originating from certain villages in Crimea – the koydeshler. Such regular events After repatriation, Crimean Tatars faced the have taken on forms similar in some character- active process of locating themselves within istics to calendar celebrations. Every year, or the cultural environment of Crimea, as well as several times a year, different Crimean Tatar constructing and reconstructing the imaginary villages hold meetings of fellow villagers born representation of the old Crimean space, not in Crimea before 1944. Children and grand- yet desecrated by Soviet regime. children are also welcomed to the meetings. Individual family stories about the pre-depor- The pattern of the meetings is almost the same tation past often recreate in memory a former and includes elements such as shared meals grandparental or great-grandparental land- and collective prayer (dua) to commemorate scape. The typical narratives describe and enu- ancestors and people who died in the foreign merate surrounding villages, depict natural land. Old people tell stories about their native landscapes and peculiarities of housekeeping villages to the younger generations, рretell lo- patterns of a family, list names and describe cal legends, and sing songs. During the collec- differences between local groups of local cit- tive meetings, they also clean old cemeteries. izens, and also mention names of streets and In summer, from May to October, Crimean neighbourhoods. These oral texts very often newspapers are full of announcements about include comparisons of local elements of the the meetings of fellow villagers, for example: culture of Crimean Tatars: the peculiarities of rituals, food, clothing, folklore, and dialects. Dear compatriots of the village of Stilya! On July The following is an example of a typical story 3, 2010, a traditional meeting of the natives of the of Mustafa: village of Stilya, Bakhchisaray district, and their descendants will be held […] There are plans to From Yalta to the direction of Simeiz, they called the install a stela in the village of Stilya and clean up area Ashakoi [lowland villages]. To the direction the old cemetery. Please therefore bring some tools of Simeiz, they called the area Yuvkharikoi [high- with you […] To produce and put up the memo- land]. Even the vernacular was different in differ- rial sign, whenever possible, we kindly ask you to ent villages. We called corn kukurudz, around Si- please make a donation…35 meiz they called it nazut, and around Gurzuf they called it afrata. But actually it is mysyr-bogdai.34 Families often organize trips to their parental villages by themselves: These are the family stories that make up the complex mosaic of memory of the old Crime- He (husband – S.O.) took the children there. Well,

34 Interview with Mustafa, b. 1917, Simfero- 35 Announcement for the “Meeting”, Golos pol, 2007. Kryma, 2010, June, 4.

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they found something there, somewhere, the plac- Ukrainians were there. We used to be like brothers es, the pebbles would be aligned there, you can see and sisters with them. They used to be everywhere, there used to be houses, gardens. They went there in all our villages. Alyosha was his name. That Al- with the children. They used to find something yosha was like a brother. We were all friends, like there, some utensils, whatever. So my husband siblings. In every village, there were Russians, brought it. They used to go there every year, in the Ukrainians, and they were really good friends. And beginning, earlier. Most of them went to Aromat- they were fluent in the Crimean Tatar language. noye […]. They often went there. He took the chil- Even the other one, he died recently. dren there and showed it to them36 […] a Russian man used to live there. Misha. My son went to set up his phone, my son would enter Therefore, in the modern communicative set- and say “Zdravstvuyte!”(‘Hello’ – in Russian), ting, we can see the overlapping of several and he would go: “Khosh keldyn!”(in Crimean Ta- spatial coordinates that embody reality of dif- tar) And he said: “How come you are not a Tatar ferent times, such as the present day, pre-de- but you don’t say hello in Russian?” And he would portation era, and the period of deportation. reply: “I can speak better Tatar than you.”37 In addition to announcements about meetings of fellow Crimean villagers, the ethnic press, Next comes a story by a woman who was born in particular, often publishes calls for meet- in the Nyzhnyohirskyi district in Crimea, in ings of neighbours, fellow classmates, work the village where Crimean Tatars, Russians, colleagues, former residents of certain villages and Ukrainians used to live side by side. Her and towns in Uzbekistan who are now scat- story is especially emotional when she men- tered around different regions of Crimea. tions her first meeting with the old friends af- An important part of stories about the return ter many years of separation: of the family to Crimea consists of recollec- tions of meetings with the long-term residents They stayed there, the Russians. Huh, what a meet- of Slavic origin (Ukrainians and Russians) ing that was! Oh, how they treated me! It makes who used to live nearby before the Crimean me feel like crying […] They were speaking Ta- Tatars were deported from Crimea. The stories tar, those who were closest, not all of them. Here’s about the neighbours always focus on their auntie Olia, and auntie Lena, they used to always awareness of the Crimean Tatar language, speak Tatar with my granny.38 customs, and folklore. Old neighbours are of- ten opposed to new settlers who came to the Here’s a story by Refat M. about a casual en- peninsula after the deportation of Crimean counter with an old neighbour: Tatars and do not remember the presence of the latter on the peninsula. In oral accounts I came across one man, in 1974. He would stare Old Slavic residents of Crimea act as eye- at me and ask: “Are you from Kozy?” I reply: witnesses of the presence of Crimean Tatars “Yes, I am from Kozy.” “Wait a second, - he within the Crimean space before the war. The says, and stares at me, and then says, - are you following interview quotes contain descrip- tions: 37 Interview with Luftiye, Kuybysheve, 2006. 36 Interview with Aliye, b. 1966, Bakhchis- 38 Interview with Kurtotay, b. 1926, Bakh- aray, 2010. chisaray, 2010.

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the son of a Muslim?” He’s Russian, Russian environment of the Crimean peninsula. Over he is. His name was Petka. “Yes, I am, - I re- the last decades, the Muslim community has plied, - I am his son, how do you know my fa- built dozens of religious buildings in Crimea, ther?” Since he asked in Tatar, I thought he was mostly new mosques in the areas of compact Tatar. But it was uncle Petia Sharkov, their house is settlement (see Fig. 10, 14). As of 2008, 77 new still there. His mother, auntie Marya was a very nice mosques had been constructed on the pen- woman. […] Then I would say to him: “Petia-aga, insula, 57 mosques were reclaimed by the is it you?” […] “Yes, it’s me!” He was a partisan Crimean Tatar Muslim community, and 146 fighter. We respected him very much, and he also had facilities were adjusted for worship.41 much respect for us. He was a very good kind of In addition to religious buildings, a sacral person.39 space is shaped by the loci connected with the remembrance of the dead, such as graves and The attitudes towards each other of the Crime- cemeteries. The places of collective memory an Tatars and Slavic residents of Crimea who of the Crimean Tatar ethnic community are came there after the deportation of Crime- the remains of cemeteries destroyed after the an Tatars is very different. The two groups banishment of Crimean Tatars from Crimea. mostly treat each another as foreigners, out- Today, we can see attempts to discover and landers, and rivals who would claim their rebuild cemeteries. Monuments and memorial territory. The two groups do not have any sites are constructed to commemorate the dead. common historical memory or cultural bonds. The discourse of finding and rebuilding old Attempts of Crimean Tatars to defend their cemeteries is also present in the national me- right to their historical homeland would pro- dia. The following is a excerpt from an article voke the following response among the reset- about the construction of a new vacation house tled Russians and Ukrainians: “Where is my settlement on top of the old Crimean Tatar homeland? What is my nationality?”40 cemetery: One of the methods of certain ethnoreligious groups is to reclaim a geographic space to in- Activists demand the termination of the construc- corporate the existing environment into the tion of houses and the allocation of plots on the ter- religious life of the community. This form ritory of the old cemetery, and call for the erection of adaptation to new cultural landscapes is of a memorial thereon. We have been notified that the construction of buildings for public wor- some human bones were thrown away on the road ship. A temple is a material incorporation of during the construction works within the vacation a certain religion, while religious buildings house district.42 have always been a spatial embodiment of a religion for the population of certain territo- Oral and printed narratives are particularly ry. Today, the minarets have again become sensitive about the hot-button topics of- de an integral part of the Crimean landscape. At stroying cemeteries and desecrating the mem- the same time, they act as spatial markers for ory of the dead: the presence of Muslims within the cultural 41 Bulatov, A. 2008 “Islam u Krymu. Suchasni aspekty rozvytku” http://islam.in.ua/4/ukr/full_ar- 39 Interview with Refat, b. 1932, Soniachna ticles/2353/visibletype/1/index.html Dolyna, 2010. 42 Ablaeva, A. “Dachi na kostyah“ Golos 40 Interview with M., Bakhchisaray, 2008 Kryima 2009.08.11.

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We are not able to attend the graves of those who lated. For example, in summer 2006, an ar- stayed on the foreign lands forever. The graves of gument arose around the Bakhchisaray me- the ancestors in Crimea are stamped out of exis- dieval Aziz that used to have shopping stalls tence.43 on top during Soviet times. Demands by the Crimean Tatar community to stop commercial Oral accounts of those who inform about activities on the territory of the sacred place search activities and the discovery of old cem- caused a negative response from part of the eteries are particularly emotional: local Slavic population. Tensions culminat- ed and led to a clash between some Crimean No graves are there. They dug all the graves. My Tatars, law enforcement bodies and the local mother is there [buried – S.O.]. They plowed. I Russian population. Back in the early 20th cen- know the place, I went there and cried. That was it, tury, there used to be the popular religious there was no grave [cries]. They just plowed over practice of parallel or mixed pilgrimage of the it.44 representatives of several religious groups to one sacred place. However, as a result of the In Crimea, local communities nowadays also Soviet government’s displacement policy, the initiate the construction of monuments and tradition of religious tolerance has almost van- memorials to commemorate the soldiers who ished. Today, Muslim religious objects also perished in the Second World War (see Fig. become spatial markers that take on political 13). Crimean Tatar names of the Red Army and national significance. They legitimize the soldiers who died on the fronts of the Great presence of Crimean Tatars in the Crimean Patriotic War serve as a materialized dis- landscape. pelling of a Soviet myth on the mass cooper- One of the ways for Crimean Tatars to reclaim ation of Crimean Tatars with the Nazis which native space nowadays is the movement to re- still resounds within the information space of vive the old toponymy of Crimea. It is known Crimean media and the official “pro-Russian” that after the displacement of Tatars outside discourse. the peninsula almost all names of Turkic top- Today, there is a gradual rebirth of the old onymy were randomly substituted with Slavic tradition of worshiping local sacred places names that did not reflect any historical tradi- (Aziz). It is part of the reintegration process of tion.45 The need to bring back the old names Crimean Tatars into the native landscape af- to settlements is often expressed in ethnic me- ter many years in exile. Under the complicat- dia. Presently, it is common among Crimean ed conditions of the socio-political life on the Tatars to refer to the places of compact set- peninsula today, the willingness of Crimean tlement with the old Turkic toponyms or the Tatars to restore their Muslim shrines would new equivalents. As a result, the map now often provoke a public response. Thus, the has new Tatar villages and neighbourhoods, restored shrines would often be vandalized. such as Ismail-Bey in the suburbs of the city Open conflicts would also sometimes - esca 45 Mohyla. D. V. 2008 “Pereimenuvannia nazv administratyvnykh obiektiv v Krymu yak 43 Аvdet 2009.12.28 http://avdet.org/ naslidky deportatsii 1944 r. krymskykh tatar, ru/2009/12/28/proekt-pamyatnika-zhertvam-depor- bolhar, virmen ta hrekiv” Uchenyie zapiski Tavriches- tatsii-v-g-saki/ kogo natsIonalnogo universiteta im. V. I. Vernadskogo. 44 Interview with Kurtotay, b. 1926, 2010. 21 (2): 301­31.

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of Yevpatoria, Khosh-Keldy and Ak-Mechet his work is to recreate the historical memory in the suburbs of the city of Simferopol, Dz- of Crimean Tatars and to pass it down to fur- hanykoy near the city of Kerch. The newly ther generations.47 Such scrupulous work with established settlements include, for example, the memory involves the incorporation of in- Khadzhy-Sala near the cave town Mangup dividual memories and stories into the collec- and Kamysh-Kora nearby Simferopol. Tatar tive experience and their use among different microtoponyms are used as names of streets generations. Another objective is to recon- to commemorate prominent Crimean Tatar struct the invisible, in many respects idealized figures, or to commemorate cities and villages. image of a Crimean space which has ceased Thus, in the city of Simferopol there are streets to exist decades ago and which is not possible called Ozenbash, Fenerli, Kemal Yakub, Dev- to physically recreate, but can be envisioned let Hirey, lanes of Dua, Adalet, and many oth- through texts and artistic imagery. ers with such names. Crimean Tatar culture is represented within Other forms of return and retranslation of col- the peninsula space through the creation of lective memory of certain localities in Crimea tourist infrastructure objects that use ethnic is an amateur local history movement and symbols and motifs. In Crimea, they started the publication of new local history books launching small private ethnographic mu- on history, culture, ethnography, and on the seums in popular tourist destinations. The toponymy of certain Crimean Tatar villages small museums in the village of Sokolyne and localities.46 Local historical literature of a (Bakhchisaray district) and in the town of popular scientific character is mostly written Staryi Krym have long been known. They in the Crimean Tatar language. It provides hold ethnographic exhibitions and reproduce information about the pre-deportation life of traditional interiors. The visitors can also try Crimean Tatar communities in certain regions the national cuisine. In Yevpatoria, the mu- of Crimea. Local researchers and amateurs en- nicipality and private business cooperation thusiasts of local history arrange expedition (the project was launched in 2006-07) result- trips aimed at recording testimonies from old- ed in the establishment of a tourist facility in- time residents and recreating local elements of cluding the reconstructed medieval gate and culture, recording dialect words, local topony- a hotel, restaurants, and cafés in ethnic style my and mapping the old pre-deportation land- (Fig. 16). The coordinator and initiator of the scape. One of the amateur local historians is project of creating a Crimean Tatar tourist Hirey Bairov, who has a medical background. center in Yevpatoria (“Odun-bazar-kjapusy”), For many years has been attending meetings Diliara Yakubova, focuses on the need for the of fellow countrymen and conducting inter- Crimean Tatar cultural elite to realize the need views with the long-term residents of Crimea, to shape a positive image of Crimean Tatars, while also publishing local history articles on their history and culture, also by means of social media and posting recordings on the touristic objects and excursion programs: “It Youtube. According to Hirey, the objective of is important to build a bridge, it is important to show that we are different, but we comple- 46 For example, over the past 20 years, books on the following Crimean settlements have been published: Kuchuk-uzen, Ulu-Uzen, Khapskhor, 47 Interview with Hirey, b. 1983, Kyiv-Alush- Uskiut, Demyrdzhy, Koz. ta, 2015.

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ment each other.”48 As a result, the historical encourages Crimean Tatars to refresh the old tourist facility has fully changed the image of epithet of the ‘minaret-Chebureki’ Crimea50 one district within the city as well as the entire (Avdet, 2016, July, 14), first used by the poet city of Yevpatoria. The goal of the project was and critic Osip Mandelstam regarding the reached: presently, Crimean Tatar heritage popular image of Crimea. claims a notable place in the cultural land- The assertion of rights to their own territory, scape of the city and is associated both with both in physical and in symbolic terms, was the distant past as well as with quite modern a complicated and lengthy process for Crime- and relevant forms. an Tatars that has not been finalized yet. The The presence of Crimean Tatars in the con- exclusive political and strategic significance temporary Crimean geography and public of Crimea for the leaders of the Soviet Union space can be noticed in such details as names resulted in the approach of the official - au of shops and restaurants in different villages thorities to reject Crimean Tatars’ intention to and cities. This visibility within the space is return to their native land. When compared very important for Crimean Tatars themselves. to other nations that suffered deportation, Thus, in the Avdet newspaper, the authors of Crimean Tatars in some respects had to take the article thoroughly collected photos and a much more complicated road to return. In Crimean Tatars names of different stores in particular, some deported nations, such as the present settlements of Crimea.49 Kalmyks, Chechens, and Ingushes, were al- Whenever we consider the processes of repa- lowed to return to their historical lands much triation and adaptation of Crimean Tatars in earlier than Crimean Tatars. They took this Crimea in terms of their relation to the space opportunity back in the 1950/60s.51 It has not and territory, we can provisionally identify been a long time since the period of depor- two strategies (interrelated strategies) of mo- tation. Therefore, the first generation of - spe tivating and incorporating the community’s cially displaced persons managed to migrate, intercultural and geographical space. The first unlike in the case of Crimean Tatars where it strategy is about daily work with memory and was the second generation. When compared the past, as well as activities on sacralization to other Crimean deported nations (Greeks, of the space or memorial sites, according to Germans, Armenians, Bulgarians), it must be P. Nora. The second strategy is rather more mentioned that Crimean Tatars had the most material in its form. It is based on everyday powerful and long-standing political human practices and is future-oriented. It is manifest- rights movement that consolidated all the de- ed in everyday activities that make Crimean ported Crimean Tatars in their pursuit to re- Tatars more visible within the public space 50 Avdet, 2016, July, 14 http://avdet.org/ of Crimea: it includes construction activities, ru/2016/07/14/cheburechno-minaretnyj-krym-dolz- hen-sozdat-novye-obrazy-budushhego-2/ and activities representing Crimean Tatars in 51 Bakaev A. 2012 Vosstanovlenie Cheche- the field of tourism and small business. The no- Ingushskoy ASSR: predposyilki, usloviya i eta- pyi resheniya problemyi (1950-e – nachalo 1960-h organic combination of these two ‘strategies’ godov) / avtoref. diss. kandidata istoricheskih nauk. Pyatigorsk, 27; Yanova, M. V. (2011). “K voprosu ob 48 Interview with Diliara, b. 1960, Yevpato- istorii vosstanovleniya avtonomii kalmyitskogo ria, 2010. naroda: po dokumentam tsentralnyih arhivov“. 49 Avdet, 2016, August, 31 http://avdet.org/ Vestnik Adyigeyskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. ru/2016/08/31/15-samyh-patrioticheskih-krymsko- Seriya 1: Regionovedenie: filosofiya, istoriya, sotsiologi- tatarskih-magazinov/ ya, yurisprudentsiya, politologiya, kulturologiya, (2)

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turn to their homeland. In terms of territorial because of repressions and change of political identity and belonging to a place, the concepts order. Despite the continuous repressions and of ‘larger’ and ‘lesser’ homeland for Crimean pressure from the authorities, Crimean Tatars Tatars as indigenous people are fully identi- believe they need to stay in Crimea and in- cal. This is unlike representatives of other de- crease their own influence. Thus, the Crimean ported ethnic groups in Crimea who would Tatar segment of Facebook and some media someway or other often feel their bond to the recently have been spreading the motto “Djort ‘large metropolises’ such as to the territories bizni klurtaradzhakj!”, or “The four will save and communities of other countries. A similar us!” It means that the only way to become attitude of several imaginary ‘homelands’ was rooted in your own land is to naturally grow analyzed in the article by P. Meylakhs as illus- the population. In other words, each Crime- trated by Meskhetian Turks.52 an Tartar family should have at least four After the annexation of Crimea by the Russian children. According to the Crimean reporter Federation in 2014, the competition between Maksym Mireyev: different historical narratives intensified. In order to ideologically justify aggression on If you like, it is a peculiar Crimean Tatar evange- the part of Russia, a historical myth about the lism – the non-violent reclamation of Crimea by Russian Christian Crimea as well as this ter- Crimean Tatars through the natural increase in ritory as “genuinely Russian land” started to population. I think it is the last chance for Crimean be exploited more actively.” Exploiting this Tatars to regain influence in their homeland. Why historical narrative in official Russian opinion so? Because any belligerent solutions would turn journalism and political statements will have into genocide for Crimean Tatars, while repatria- a negative effect on the mutual perception of tion is de facto over.”53 the representatives of two dominant ethno-re- ligious groups of Crimea: Crimean Tatars and The cultural anthropological approach to the Russian-speaking Slavic population. Re- studying the belonging to a particular terri- pressions against the political leaders of the tory (described in the work by S. Low54) as a Crimean Tatar nation and the policy that led combination of practices not only of commem- to the forced displacement of some Crimean orative nature related to ideology, religion, or Tatars to continental Ukraine (mostly for po- mythology, but also of everyday secular ac- litical and religious reasons) shapes a new tivities manifesting the aggregate of person- image of the homeland lost again among the al experiences of humans, allows us to take a displaced persons. The indirect sources (so- bottom-up perspective on the process of “cre- cial media and the permitted Crimean Tatar ating the place.” Crimean Tatars had to tackle media) produce an impression that Crimean numerous minor issues for a quarter of a cen- Tatars who stayed in the peninsula largely be- tury in Crimea, such as planning to move with lieve that the return to the homeland came at the family, looking for lands for construction, a price high enough to flee the peninsula now 53 Mireev, M. «Chetvero nas spasut?» Avdet. 2014 21 June https://avdet.org/ru/2014/07/21/chet- 52 Meylahs, P. 2006. “Otdavaya“ rodine» vero-nas-spasut/ dolzhnoe: Opyit etnosimvolicheskogo analiza 54 Low, Setha M. 2009 “Towards an anthro- sluchaya turok-meshetintsev tsentralnoy Ros- pological theory of space and place.” Semiotica.175 sii». Ab Imperio, (2), 233-273. (2009): 21-37.

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defending their property rights, searching for nic native land, they found themselves in an employment and study places for themselves entirely new cultural environment, and not and their children, furnishing the streets of in the Crimea recalled in family stories. The compact settlements, etc. As a result of the only reminders of the pre-deportation Crimea process, the concept of land and homeland has were some architectural elements,rare meet- acquired multiple meanings, not only for the ings with old neighbours, and the natural ancestral land but also the current home. geographical setting. The process of return and re-territorization of the Crimean Tatar Conclusions community was accompanied by a symbol- ic reconstruction of the ethnic homeland The population of the Crimean peninsula un- lost during the years of exile. The movement derwent crucial ethnic, demographic, and so- materialized in different forms of cultural land- cial transformations in Soviet times. First and scape: cult construction, processes of space foremost, this was due to repressions against memorialization, the regional studies move- Crimean Tatars who experienced mass de- ment, the struggle for the recovery of authen- portation to the republics in Central Asia and tic toponymy, land activism and construction some northern regions of Russia. These acts, as activities, etc. Therefore, the reversion to the well as settlements of emptied areas with peo- native landscape took place not only by work- ple from other places of the Soviet Union, have ing with the memory, but also through daily entirely changed the cultural landscape and practices, such as individual construction, national composition of the population of the trade, and activities of new tourist facilities, Crimean peninsula. The acts of the totalitarian which shape everyday itineraries. These are regime laid the foundations for long-standing the sorts of activities that make Crimean Ta- ethno-social conflicts in the region whose re- tars a visible and influential community with- sults we can observe in the present day reality in the Crimean space. of political and cultural life of the peninsula. The common memory of the historical home- land and the image of the native home has played and still plays an important role in the processes of re-territorization of the Crimean About the author Tatars in Crimea. The migration processes of Olena Sobolieva is an ethnologist, senior re- the second half of the 20th century (deportation search fellow at the Research Institute of of Crimean Tatars and return to the homeland) Ukrainian Studies of the Ministry of Education led to the blurring of the sub-regional identity and Research of Ukraine. She recived Ph.D. in of Crimean Tatars. As a result of deportation, 2009 from the Department of Ethnology and the concept of ethnic unity for Crimean Tatars Local History at Kyiv Taras Shevchenko Na- has become much more important than the tional University. Author of the monograph awareness of cultural differences between dif- “Weddings of Crimean Tatars: Traditional Forms ferent local and territorial groups. and Transformations” (2015). Member of the When Crimean Tatars returned to their eth- National Union of Local History of Ukraine.

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Figure 1: Near the old well in 1959, Otuz, Chornomorsky region, Crimea. Photocopy of T. Velychko from the private album Mambetova Afize. July 13, 2010.

Figure 2: Family trip to your native village, Chornomorsky region, Crimea, 1959, Photocopy of T. Velychko from the private album Mambetova Afize. July 13, 2010.

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Figure 3: The Crimean Tatar family came to visit their native land, 1959. the House of the Emirsaliyevyh, Otuz, Chornomorsky region, Crimea. Photocopy of T. Velychko from the private album Mambetova Afize. July 13, 2010.

Figure 4: Mesut Abhairov (member of the board of elders of the settlement) with his wife and granddaughter near a temporary residence, which was the first building (founded in 1990) in the compact settlement of Crimean Tatars “Ismail-Bai”. Photo by V. Lavrenko, 2002. Photocopy of T. Velichko from Mesut Abhairov’s private album, 12.07.2010.

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Figure 5: Majit Mambetov shows and tells his family about his native village of Bolek-Aji Saks’ky district. Photocopy of T. Velichko from M. Mambetov’s Private Album, 11.07.2010.

Figure 6: Meeting of fellow countrymen of Bolek-Aji village in Saksky district in 1998. Photocopy of T. Velichko from M. Mambetov’s private album, 11.07.2010.

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Figure 7: Usinov Shukri with his wife Kurtametova Nazife in his hometown of Mishor in 1962. A photocopy of O. Sobolieva from Sh. Usinov’s private album

Figure 8: Mustafayeva Shefia with her uncle near his native settlement of Otuz, Feodosia, born in 1971. A photocopy of O. Sobolieva from S. Musafayeva’s private album.

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Figure 9: Rebuilt homaged source in the village Viktorivka, Bakhchisarai district. Photo by O. Sobolieva, 23.06.2010.

Figure 10: New mosque in a place of compact residence of the Crimean Tatars. Ak-Mosque in Simferopol. Photo by O. Sobolieva, 26.06.2010.

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Figure 11: On the streets of the native village of Otuz (Shchebetovka) near Feodosiya. A photocopy by O. Sobolieva from S. Mustafayeva’s private album, July 14, 2010.

Figure 12: On the streets of the native village of Otuz (Shchebetovka) near Feodosiya. A photocopy by O. Sobolieva from S. Mustafayeva’s private album, July 14, 2010.

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Figure 13: Memorial in memory of fallen soldiers in the Great Patriotoc War in the village. Schebetovka. Sudatsky district. Photo by O. Sobolieva, 14.07.2010.

Figure 14: New mosque in the village Blyzhnie near Feodosia. Photo by O. Sobolieva, 15.07.2010.

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Figure 15: New unfinished compact settlement of the Crimean Tatars “Birlik-6” in the vicinity of Simferopol. The building of the future mosque is in the foreground. Photo by O. Sobolieva, 15.12.2010.

Figure 16: City holiday at the reconstructed gate of the medieval fortress of Hezleva (modern day Yevpatoria). The complex is a part of the cultural and ethnographic center “Gezlev Azbar”.

Euxeinos, Vol. 9, No. 27 / 2019 140 Narrating trauma: literary strategies in Ukrainian survivor literature of the second half of the 20th century

by Natalia Dovhanych

Abstract The paper provides an investigation of literary strategies to narrate eye-witness and survivor experiences regarding the Holodomor and Holocaust in the works of Ukrainian emigrant authors in the after-war period. The analysis focusses on novels by Oleksa Hay-Holowko, Olga Mak, Dokia Humenna, and Miron Dolot, authors rarely discussed in the context of the Ukrainian literature of the 20th century. The chosen texts elucidate distinctly different literary images of ‘survivors’ in literature, here classified respectively as ‘survivor as a hero’, ‘survivor as a moral pattern’, ‘survivor as a silent bystander’ and ‘survivor as a human’, which influence the image of victims in the texts and the overall recognition of the crimes they describe. The authors’ search for appropriate narration reveals the inability to transmit the trauma though the genre of novel in which the image of the survivor is intensified by his personal qualities. The obstacle for this transmission emerges at the intersection of different levels: symbolical, metaphorical, historical and realistic. The novel by Dokia Humenna contains attempts to create a pre-dialog between the Holodomor and Holocaust which was impossible on the public level at that time. It helped to demolish the official commemorative strategy of ‘forgetting to forget’ and builds a multidirectional memory aimed at ‘remembering to remember’. Therefore the Ukrainian survivor literature has its own specificity, which is defined mainly by the circumstance that every text was considered to be both proof of the crime and an embodiment of author’s traumatic experience.

Keywords: memory studies, trauma, survivor literature, types of survivors, emigration literature, Holodomor, Holocaust

Introduction by emigré writers who left Ukraine during or after the Second World War. This literary he emergence and rapid extension of generation became witnesses of the two the Tmemory studies, especially in recent years, most complicated traumas of the 20th century: can be explained by an abundant number of Holodomor (The Great Famine in Ukraine in memoirs, recollections of victims as well as 1932-1933) and Holocaust. The great majority public testimonies of witnesses of the events of them also became survivors who were lucky of the First and Second World War. In addition to escape or avoid the mass arrests and kill- there is a growing awareness of the traumatic ings of Ukrainian writers and artists in 1933- events and an increasing desire to deal with 1937. The organization of Ukrainian writers them and with the traces they left in collective “MUR” (Artistic Ukrainian Movement, 1945- memory. This “memory boom” was restricted 1948) in Furt had more than 60 members. The to “the West” and in contrast occurred nei- organization “Slovo”, which was created in ther in Ukraine nor in most others post-Soviet New York in 1954, united nearly 200 repre- countries, primarily due to political pressure. sentatives of literature and art. The works of The true dynamic in Ukrainian cultural the most prominent of them (Ivan Bagrianyi, memory can be demonstrated through au- Ulas Samchuk, Todos Osmachka, Vasyl Bar- tobiographical texts written and published ka, Igor Kachurovskyi, Ihor Kosteckyi, Yurij

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Kosach, Dokia Humenna) even now construct several books and discussions. The valuable the general idea about the thematic and no- work by Miroslav Shkandrij (2009) analyzes tional structure of emigré Ukrainian literature. the emergence and development of the im- However, the greater part of texts published age of Jews and the problem of anti-Semitism without censorship outside Soviet Ukraine in Ukrainian literature, starting from the 19th were forbidden almost until the end of the 20th century to the end of the 20th century.1 century and still remain excluded from the lit- Marco Carynnyk (1983), James E. Mace (1984), erary canon. This caused public unawareness Robert Conquest (1987), and Karel C. Berk- of survivors’ testimonies and provoked silence hoff (2008) made a significant contribution and the non-recognition of interconnections to investigating crimes on Ukrainian territo- between the historical events that took place ry by objectively identifying Holodomor and on Ukrainian territory. The works of writers Holocaust perpetrators based on witnesses’ who became constrained emigrants elucidate accounts and documents. The work of Timo- the first direct experiences of the totalitarian thy Snyder (2010) particularly emphasizes the crimes in Ukraine, both Soviet and Nazi, and necessity to juxtapose Soviet and Nazi crimes therefore form the complex of Ukrainian sur- and to acknowledge them as equal.2 vivor literature. The specificities of the post-war literature in The belated investigation of the traumatic exile are represented in the research by Ihor topics of the Holodomor and Holocaust in Kachurovskij. He formulates the term “The Ukrainian literature was caused by and relat- generation of the Second World War”, which ed to the political concealment of the real cir- enumerates at least 53 representatives of em- cumstances and outcomes of these events. The igrant writers, among which only several official extension of the term Holodomor, be- names are fully remembered now (Jurij Tar- sides terms such as “famine”, “great famine”, navskij, Oleksa Smotrych and the author him- and “famine terror”, and its objective investi- self).3 He draws attention to a neglected part gation began in the 1970s mainly in the Amer- of literature, which may not be investigated ican and Canadian diaspora due to publica- without considering the fact that it was reject- tions in Ukrainian newspapers and especially ed at the time of appearance. There is also a due to the work of The US Commission on the lack of studies about the literary heritage of Ukrainian Famine (1985). This term, which emigrant authors as the embodiment of indi- consists of two Ukrainian words that mean vidual or collective traumas. George Grabo- “to inflict death by hunger”, probably secretly wicz (1993) was the first to make a significant spread among people before. As it specifies the attempt to change the perspective of analyz- artificial and organized character of the fam- ing post-war literature from style peculiarities ine, it rapidly became used in literary works (Yurij Shevelyov4) to psychological interior as well (Olga Mak 1973, Hay-Holovko 1987, 1 Myroslav Shkandrij, Jews in Ukrainian Lit- Miron Dolot 1987, Evhen Hutsalo 1990, etc). erature: Representation and Identity (New Haven & London: Yale University Press, 2009). Even if the Holodomor is covered by different 2 Timothy Snyder, Bloodlands: Europe be- both ideological and non-ideological editions tween Hitler and Stalin (New York: Basic books, 2010). and separated analyses in concrete books, the 3 Ihor Kachurovskij, Promenusti sulvety (Kyiv: Vydavnychyi dim “Kyevo-Mogylianska ak- Holocaust has only begun to be discussed in ademia”, 2006), p. 518. 4 Jurii Sheveliov, “Styli suchasnoyi

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characterization. He assumes that these liter- sible. The distinction between victims and ary works were under the influence of a survi- perpetrators was unequivocally clear. The vor complex as reflected in the autobiograph- survivors were in a position in which they did ical manner or memoir genre, but he did not not have to prove the existence of the crime illustrate how it is embodied in concrete nar- and were able to use the first person narrative ratives.5 in their reminiscences. This article explores not widely known pieces In contrast to this, the Soviet party policy basi- of survivor literature written by the Ukrainian cally denied that the famine terror happened. emigrant-writers Dokia Humenna, Olga Mak, The true survivors’ testimony could be told Oleksa Hay-Holovko and Miron Dolot. These only at the risk of their and their families’ lives texts contain their responses to the Holodomor and at the risk of those who were witnesses. and Holocaust and build a certain type of sur- To testify about the Holodomor was to testify vivor as the main character in the text. The against the Soviet Union and Stalin, its main close reading of these autobiographical novels representative at that time. Those testifying shows how remembering and forgetting pro- faced both the burden of proving that these cesses caused by the traumas are represented atrocities happened as well as describing them by ways of constructing images about the past accurately and showing the full extent of what and which strategy they choose to bear wit- happened. The Holodomor became recogniz- nesses. able as a trauma on the collective level even in the circumstances of suppression and ne- Survivors’ trauma gotiation, but primarily due to the enormous number of witnesses: all citizens of Kharkiv at An analysis of survivor literature requires a the time of 1932 and especially in 1933 were precise distinction between those who are sur- observers of the mass starvation of villagers vivors and those who are not. In the context for whom the city was the last hope to survive. of the Holocaust, the voices of the survivors Alexandr Etkind has shown that the intrica- became available after the liberation of the cy of testimonies about the Soviet terror was concentration camps. The testimonies of Ho- caused by the rapid changes in officials’ staff, locaust survivors (Primo Levi, Elie Wiesel, the unsteady boundaries between victims and Victor Frankl, Inge Auerbacher, in Ukraine perpetrators, and the absence of true verifiable – Anatolij Kuznetsov) became prominent, ac- data. Consequently, he defines the process of knowledged and are most valuable as a source remembering Soviet terror as uncanny: of reconstruction of the reality of the extermi- nation of Jews. The collective recognition of The combination of memory and fear is, precisely, this crime was achieved by the publishing of the uncanny. The greater the energy of forgetting, photos and film material, journalistic investi- the greater the horror of remembering.6 gations and the public trials of those respon- The results of a Canadian project UCRDC ukrains’koyi literatury na emigratsiyi”, in Jurii Sheve- (1981), which searched for the available tes- liov. Vybrani praci, Vol. II, ed. Ivan Dziuba (Kyiv: Vydavnychyi dim “Kyevo-Mogylianska aka- demia”, 2008), pp. 593-633. 6 Alexandr Etkind, Warped Mourning: Stories 5 Gryhorij Grabovych. U poshukakh velykoyi of the Undead in the Land of the Unburied (California: literatury (Kyiv, 1993). Stanford University Press, 2013), p.17.

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timonies of Holodomor survivors who were hilates the uniqueness of the story presented. still alive, pointed out the influence of the fear Trauma deforms humans’ natural abilities to that prevented survivors from being inter- remember one element and forget others and viewed or constrained them so that they could transforms the human consciousness to the only speak anonymously even almost half a unstable state in which they can unite or be century after the tragedy.7 turned into its opposite: non-remembering/ Traumatic events provoke a rousing trauma non-forgetting. Andreas Huyssen defines the in consciousness which appears alongside the notion of trauma as a transition that occu- recognition of being traumatized. The trauma pies the place in-between: “on the threshold occurs on the individual and the collective lev- between remembering and forgetting, seeing el. The work of Jeffrey Alexander indicates that and not seeing, transparency and occlusion, the phenomenon of cultural trauma comes to experience and its absence in repetition.”10 light after the recognition of the reasons and The difference between witnesses’ and survi- outcomes of a specific event. Alexander makes vors’ narratives is linked to the trauma these clear that the public attitude which is formed distinct groups experienced. In the eye-wit- by the work of carrier groups (historians, in- ness’s case, the fact is that the personal choice tellectuals, writers who present certain events to be traumatized is strongly intertwined to the audience) signifies the event as traumat- with a deep feeling of empathy. However, in ic or not: “Events are not inherently traumatic. the case of the survivor it is interwoven with Trauma is a socially mediated attribution.”8 the comprehension of being a survivor and of The complicated process of overcoming trau- having had an unbearable experience which ma psychologically on the individual level is cannot be excluded from the personal life deeply connected to the desire to diminish its story. This provokes the well-known ‘survi- destructive effect by sharing received experi- vor complex’, a strong responsibility of other ences through the verbal means of represen- victims for one’s life as a merit of the others. tation. Memory studies researchers, however, Nevertheless this complex could be replaced deny that language has an ability to transform by the victim complex which causes mourn- traumatic experience in the continual textual ing for the past and the refusal of the future. construction of senses and rather state the im- To specify the type of witnessing which in- possibility of narrating the traumatic experi- cludes both the survivor’s and the eye-wit- ence of it.9 Every attempt to put experiences ness’s conceptions, Avishai Margalit uses the in words is handicapped by linguistic narrow- concept of moral witness. This concept became ness. Moreover, the use of genre patterns anni- significant in the development of the memory 7 Iroda Wynnyckyj and Wsevolod Isajiw, of the Holocaust. He has drawn attention to The famine witnesses: oral histories in North America the fact that the category of moral witnesses in Famine-Genocide in Ukraine (1932-1933). West- ern archives, testimonies and new research () Ed. by demands both observing the atrocity and suf- Wsevolod W. Isajiw (Toronto: Ukrainian Canadian fering from it. Otherwise it dwindles. Mar- Research and Documentation Centre, 2003), p.67- 77. galit argues that “A moral witness has knowl- 8 Jeffrey Alexander, The meanings of social life: A cultural sociology (Oxford: University Press, 2003), p.91. 9 Aleida Assmann, Prostory spogadu. Formy 10 Andreas Huyssen, Present Pasts: Urban pa- transformatsiyi kutkurnoyi pamyati (Kyiv: Nika-Cen- limpsests and the Politics of Memory (Stanford, Cali- ter, 2012). fornia: Stanford University Press, 2003), p.13.

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edge-by-acquaintance of suffering.”11 Thus riods which have their roots in memorializa- the moral witness bears not just his individ- tion practices. The first period occurs directly ual experience, but the real truth. Aleida Ass- after the Holocaust and elucidates the resis- mann argues there is an important difference tance of tragic memory caused by the extreme between a martyr (religious witness), whose shock of its cruelty and is defined as a period suffering includes a definite idea or a purpose, “forgetting to remember.”14 This public un- and a moral witness, whose message compris- willingness to recognize the reality of war led es crimes. The use of one category instead of to the separation of war events and atrocities, the other changes the perception of the crime which, according to Zelizer, “came to be seen by sacrificing victims and concealing the guilt as a hindrance to the larger war narrative.”15 of the perpetrators.12 Thus, defying the moral She saw a wave of “remembering to remem- witnesses of the Holodomor means also in- ber” from the seventies until the beginning of cluding the important demand to suffer from the 21st century. This wave was started by the it. trials in Jerusalem and Frankfurt and aimed Giorgio Agamben develops the idea of the ab- at collecting the voices of moral witnesses solute witness – those who did not stay alive, and circulating their testimonies through the because others are just secondary or incom- different artistic and media forms of presen- plete witnesses who cannot have a compre- tation. The third period “remembering to for- hensive awareness of a threshold they never get,” according to Zelizer’s conception, occurs passed. For the witnesses who remain alive simultaneously with the continuation of the Agamben contests the ability to choose forget- preceding one as a result of the restriction of ting as experiences are unforgettable.13 They the Holocaust to the emphasis just on atrocity become mediators in the traumatic memory and using this term as a metaphor for other transmission instead of or in commemora- crimes.16 Therefore the third period presents a tion of real victims. As a result, the process new kind of amnesia, which is caused not by of forgetting could be the intentional and ul- forgetting the event, but by forgetting its real timate way to hide and to reject memories. roots. Consequently, the survivor’s state includes a This typology proves its usefulness in regard correlated restriction which shapes his expe- to the Holodomor, albeit with some modifica- rience: the disability to express and disability tions. The first long period until the collapse to forget. of the Soviet Union could be specified as a pe- The changes in the memory about the Holo- riod of “forgetting to forget” due to the state caust in the United States and Britain during organized campaign to selectively exclude the after-war years are widely examined in re- and suppress data and facts from history and search by Barbie Zelizer. She defines three pe- collective memory. The period after the col- lapse is characterized by the creation of the 11 Avishai Margalit, The Ethic of Memory image of “remembering to remember’ or ‘re- (London: Cambridge University Press, 2002), p. 149. 12 Aleida Assmann, Dlynnaya ten` proshlogo: 14 Barbie Zelizer, Remembering to forget: Holo- Memorialnaya kyltyra i isrotycheskaya politika (Mosk- caust memory through the camera’s eye (Chicago and va: Novoe Literaturnoye obozrenye, 2014). London: The University of Chicago Press, 1998), 13 Giorgio Agamben, Remnants of Aushwitz. p. 169. The witnesses and the archive (New York: Zone books, 15 Ibid., 162. 1999). 16 Ibid.

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membering to forget”. The survivor literature were considered to be guilty of inflicting fam- represents different ways of narrating trauma ine in Ukraine. The incitement to anti-Semi- which define the essence of the aim of the text tism and perception of the Jews as enemies are as a combination of remembering and forget- largely reflected in the editorial work of Ulas ting processes. Samchuk in the “Volyn” newspaper in 1941- 1943. In his memoirs “Na koni voronomu”, A literature of eye-witnesses and survivors Samchuk explains the causes of the massacres of Jews (he was under the impression of kill- The works by Ukrainian emigré writers rep- ing in Rivne) by the fatality of the historical resent multi-directional attempts to speak out choices and doom.19 Therefore the Holodomor on suppressed experiences and to elucidate and Holocaust started to exist separately: the the intricacy of circumstances which they went Holodomor as a tragedy of Ukrainians, Holo- through. All of them received this opportunity caust as a tragedy of strangers. The collective when they were forced to live outside Ukraine. memory of the Holodomor was strongly influ- Hryhorij Kostiuk correctly argues that in the enced by this idea. In the novel “Vse techet” circumstances outside censorship the writers (1970), Victor Grossman made a well-known had a deep longing to describe the truth not literary attempt to juxtapose the Holodomor only for readers, but first and foremost for and Holocaust as crimes of equal brutality themselves.17 They also understood their liter- against people, but an earlier juxtaposition ary work as the only way to construct alterna- exists in the less popular novel by Dokia Hu- tive non-censured views of a history in which menna “Khreshchaty Yar” (1946).20 Thus the they had participated. The first memoirs about restoration of the connection between margin- the Holodomor were published in exile by Vic- alized and prominent texts of survivor litera- tor Kravchenko (1946), Oleksa Voropaj (1953), ture illustrates the real development of anti-to- while texts by Vira Vovk (1953) and Vasyl Bar- talitarian discourse in literature. ka (1964) also appeared at the time. Among the wide range of emigré writers’ tes- According to Karel Berkhoff, during the Ger- timonies there are still books that remain un- man occupation of Ukraine in 1941 Ukrai- known or are rarely discussed in the context nians were able to mention the Holodomor of 20th century literature. The significant nov- openly, and the still best known book about els by Olga Mak (“Stones Under The Scythe”, the famine, “Maria” (1934) by the prominent 1973), Hay-Holovko (“For them the bells did author Ulas Samchuk, was wide-spread at that not toll”, 1987), Miron Dolot (“Execution by time. However, it remained a rather excep- Hunger”, 1985) that are dedicated to the fam- tional event, because editorial offices refused ine in 1932-1933 and in which the idea of being to publish diaries written by villagers during a survivor occupies a central place enlarge the the famine.18 Due to propaganda at that time, discourse on strategies for presenting the Ho- the histories of the Holodomor and Holocaust lodomor in literature. The novel “Khreshchatyj were interconnected in a specific way: Jews Yar” (1946) by Dokia Humenna, which is based

17 Hryhorij Kostiuk,“Z litopysu literaturnogo zhyttya v diaspori” Suchasnist`9 (129), 1971, 37-63. 19 Ulas Samchuk, Na koni voronomu (Winni- 18 Karel Berkhoff, Harvest of the Despair: Life peg: Vydannia tovatystva “Volyn”, 1990), p. 94. and Death in the Ukraine under Nazi Rule.(Cambridge, 20 Dolkia Humenna, Khreshchaty Yar (New London: Harvard University Press, 2004). York: Union “Writers” Association, 1946).

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on the eye-witness accounts of events in Kyiv Scythe”) by Olga Mak, published in Ukrainian under the Nazi occupation, allows us to trace in Toronto in 1973. The information about the the abilities of both traumas, the Holodomor author’s life contains a mention of her short and Holocaust, to coexist in collective memory. stay with a family in Kharkiv during the Ho- These authors based their novels on the experi- lodomor. ences of witnesses or survivors. Therefore they The novel “Kaminnya pid kosoyu” takes place attempt to express the experienced trauma in in Kharkiv during the famine. which is un- literary texts. Each of the books builds distinct- usual and was a challenge for the author, be- ly different literary images of survivors, whose cause all preceding texts about famine depict position in the text determines the quality of circumstances in rural areas. Kharkiv – the the circumstances around them. Based on an capital of Ukraine at that time – was a point of analysis of the novels by Olga Mak, Hay-Ho- arrival for all the people who were starving in lowko, Miron Dolot and Dokia Humenna, four nearby villages and trying to escape the fam- different types of images of survivors are re- ine. The main character – the young boy An- vealed: drij, who has recently escaped from the chil- dren’s home, is full of courage and a strong 1) the survivor as a hero; desire to find effective ways of preventing his 2) the survivor as a moral pattern; death in a city completely unknown to him. 3) the survivor as a silent bystander; The citizens around him are distracted from 4) the survivor as a human. their everyday work not only by the huge masses of starving villagers looking for food, Each of these types influence the ways of pre- but by the enormous number of corpses senting experienced trauma, but it particularly around. The narrator dwells on the silence has a marked effect on the literary images of that surrounds the starving people: [they] both perpetrators and victims as well as on the “uncourageously stretched their hands and described crime. silently died by the thousands.”21 They evoke horror in Andrij’s eyes, as he feels separat- The survivor as a hero ed from them because his chosen position is to not to die, but also not to beg: “I am not The substitution of the survivor’s complex suchlike. I am not starving. I will not beg.”22 with the complex of the victim threatening- He even throws away money that people have ly influences the strategies to present trag- given him. ic and traumatic events. Through this sub- Andrij quotes Shevchenko’s poems instead stitution the sense of being a ‘survivor’ of of mourning even in the circumstances of real (dead) victims fades and is replaced by losing his consciousness. Those referenc- the sense of being a ‘hero’ – a victim who es to Shevchenko’s poetry cultivates the overcomes severe trials. That is why the pat- character as a hero and as a martyr united in tern of survivors is ascribed superhuman one person. The woman Lidia who finds this abilities, boundless strength, perfect mor- half-dead boy saves his life by calling him al qualities or a strong feeling of patriotism. This kind of narrative is reflected in the book 21 Olga Mak, Kaminnya pid kosoyu (Toron- to-Ontario-Canada: “Homin Ukrainy”, 1973),p. 7. “Kaminnya pid kosoyu” (‘Stones Under The 22 Ibid., 29.

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her grandson. She chooses him among other atrocity is not only separated from the event, starving people because he is not begging, but but even presented as praiseworthy. quarreling (which means struggling here) in a The book ends with Lidia’s refusal to give half-conscious state. Thus Olga Mak builds a away her jewelry and she dies in the end af- heroic narrative in which the main characters ter being cruelly tortured. However, her reveal themselves as courageous defenders torment also resembles sanctity, because of the high ideas of dignity and patriotism in there are no signs on her body of being tor- even the worst circumstances. tured and the bodily mutilation does not ex- Through this development of the plot, the plain what actually happened to her. All the book emphasizes the survivors instead of the jewelry remains hidden under the pear tree victims (those who actually died) or rather in front of their houses, and her children the survivor’s fate to observe the dying peo- are supposed to come from abroad and receive ple around him. Andrij feels bad when beg- their legal inheritance. gars come to his new home because by feed- Consequently this book reveals the tenden- ing them he deprives himself of food. Lidia cy of ‘remembering to forget’. It presents the helps him to start studying, as this is pre- Holodomor more as martyrdom than as a sented as exposure and proof his human dig- tragedy and crime. By making the survivor nity. Therefore, as a survivor he is given the Andrij exceptional among others who become task not to bear witness, but to work and to separated from the historical development develop his abilities in order to be prepared processes because of influence of ‘evil’, ‘natu- for the future. Lidia also blames other people ral selection’, ‘political consequences’, ‘moral for selling their gold in Torgsin shops, as this weakness’ or any other matter, the death of act has a deeper meaning in her own eyes: “the millions is implicitly justified. golden cross given up in Torgsin will grow up in the Golgotha’s cross for her [one’s mother] The survivor as a moral pattern son.”23 Olga Mak even uses the word “martyrs” to de- The same tendency occurs in the works of scribe starving people.24 However, using this Oleksa Hay-Holovko, who made two attempts word changes the meaning of the Holodomor, to narrate the Holodomor. First, it comes out as the meaning of ‘martyr’ is strongly con- as a part of his diary “Smertelnoyu dorogoyu” nected with the individual conscious choice (“Along the Dead Road”, 1979), regarding to suffer. It is another example of a common his relocation from Leningrad to Kharkiv at process in history where the victim is repre- the very beginning of the famine, and rep- sented as being guilty of the atrocities inflict- resents his experience being an eye-witness ed on him/herself. The perpetrators’ guilt is to it. The famine exists in his observations as a substituted for the influence of evil and the back plan, because he does not have recogni- victims become innocent and sacrificed (or tion of its scale. even perpetrators themselves). In this way, the He also does not have straight answers to questions as to what is happening. Howev- 23 Olga Mak, Kaminnya pid kosoyu (Toron- er, he asks these questions all the time. The to-Ontario-Canada: “Homin Ukrainy”, 1973),p. significant feature of his writing is the use 146. 24 Ibid., 8. of duplicate questions in dialogs which di-

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rect the reader’s attention to important de- not toll”, 1987). He describes events in village tails in the answer or makes the answer more Svitle (light) and then the process of its shift- precise. As an example, here is part of the ing to ‘dark’ in 1932 and 1933. At the very be- author’s dialog with the landlady of the house ginning of the book the villagers are shown to where he lives regarding what happened to be aware of the coming famine and some of the starving people who had come to Kharkiv: them start to hide food. Those who are naive and still believe in the promises of the commu- • Those who reached the city have died already, nist party refuse to hide food and bring doom other people are dying out in the villages. and death on themselves. For them the bell • Dying out in the villages?25 did toll. After Andrij’s father, a priest, is forced to leave These duplicate questions also elucidate a re- the village, the officials destroy the church. luctance to add the author’s voice and to give This priest moves to another village and prays informative answers, thereby provoking in- at night with the starving people in their hous- terlocutors to speak out their position instead. es or in the forest. The main emphasis here is This could be interpreted as a result of ‘un- on forbidding and destroying holy and reli- canniness’, when fear blocked their ability to gious values significant to people as well as speak openly. the Soviet regime wiping out their moral con- Hay-Holovko describes his assignment to the victions. Those who will survive have neither village in spring ostensibly to help with the moral and patriotic stability nor are deprecia- sowing campaign, but actually to collect corps- tive of collective farms. The characters confide es from houses: “We should execute the plan – that “they want to kill our nation.”28 to “clean” four more houses.”26 He is forced to Besides depicting famine, the author also con- sign papers that he has not seen anything and structs a love story between the main character to write articles about the advantages of col- Andrij and Hannysia, the girl who becomes an lective farms after coming back to Kharkiv. In orphan. The book ends with the marriage of the second volume of his memoirs he strives to this young couple and their escape from the prove that it was an obligation, but not his real village. This story beautifies the narrative of position: “I was forced to do this. An act, with horrible famine, and simultaneously attributes which I did not agree, and which I thorough- characters streaks of dignity, bravery and in- ly despised.”27 After this traumatic experience nocence, which means that they are able to en- he adds a short promise to his memoirs to tell shrine their high feelings to each other even in about events he has seen. the circumstances of famine. Hay-Holovko’s second attempt to work with The break of senses reveals itself on the the topic of the Holodomor is his novel “Im boundary between the realistic and meta- dzvony ne dzvonyly” (“For them the bells did phorical plans of the novel. The perpetrators of Holodomor are called “cannibals”29 sever- 25 Oleksa Hay-Holowko, Smertelnoyu doro- al times because of their attitude towards the goyu, Vol I (Winnipeg-Canada: Trident Press LTD, 1979), p.261. 26 bid., 271. 28 Oleksa Hay-Holovko. Im dzvony ne 27 Oleksa Hay-Holowko, Smertelnoyu doro- dzvonyly (Winnipeg-Canada: Trident Press LTD, goyu, Vol II(Winnipeg-Canada: Trident Press LTD, 1987), p.96. 1983), p.261. 29 Ibid., 55.

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villagers. However the word ‘cannibal’ later on the society. The events of Holodomor are takes on its other literal meaning in the context widely presented in her novel “Dity chymac- of the Holodomor, when people in the village koho shljahy” (“Children of the Milky Way”), start to disappear. By using paraphrasing to but the images of survivors are more elaborate emphasize the cruelty of the perpetrators, the in the novel “Khreshchaty Yar”. essence of their real origin, motives and crimes The book illustrates the stories of three wom- is blurred and erased. The coexistence of these en who choose three different strategies when levels changes the attitude towards depicted choosing between the Soviet and Nazi to- events from the fiction to reality. The head- talitarian regimes. The first woman Halyna line “for them the bells did not toll” could also chooses to cooperate with the Nazi regime. mean that the crime was covered with silence, She changes her nationality and language the death of the victims was unnoticeable on from Russian to Ukrainian because, in her the public level, and that they were buried in opinion, Ukrainians were treated better than an unreligious way, which at that time was Russians under Nazi occupation. Later she equivalent to an inhuman way. This caption moves to Germany. The second woman – Vas- emphasizes the dead victims. Yet the story anta – prefers to defend the communist par- focusses on the survivors, who are strong- ty and the values proposed by it and at the willed, brave and gritty as if this was the only end she is killed by the Nazis for spying. The way to survive. third woman – the main character of the nov- By transforming his memoirs into the novel, el – Mariana avoids to choosing between the Hay-Holovko therefore tries to embellish it regimes and she survives. This character is an with metaphoric phrases and a love story. The autobiographical projection of Humenna. This diary focusses on the cruelty of death caused is confirmed by her diary and her other novel by the famine as well as on the methods that “Skarha majbutnjomy”, which was published were used to cover it all up and avoids men- later, but precedes the events in “Khreshchaty tioning those who survive. However, the nov- Yar”. Shkandrij notes that: el honors survivors, their moral qualities and the intelligence that helped them to escape the Humenna herself remained an enemy of all forms of doom of the bell. That is why the type of sur- inequality, authoritarianism, and racism through- vivor in this novel could be distinguished as out her life, and maintained a strong commitment the ‘survivor as a moral pattern’. By contrast, to personal integrity and was outspoken about this this strategy erases the memory of victims and issue.30 provokes forgetting. She attributes this position to the main female The survivor as a silent bystander characters in her novels. Mariana consciously sees the position of The novel “Khreshchaty Yar” (1946) by Dokia eye-witness as her obligation; she believes Humenna is the first depiction of the events in her own eyes only and can judge Nazis only Kyiv between 1941 and 1943 when the Sovi- after having seen them. In her opinion, both et authorities left the city and it was occupied by the Nazi army. This novel reveals the pro- 30 Myroslav Shkandrij, Jews in Ukrainian Literature: Representation and Identity (New Haven longed impact of memory of the Holodomor & London: Yale University Press, 2009), p.201.

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regimes commit incredible crimes and cov- which cannot be forgotten: “Babi Yar gives me er them up with the propaganda discourse. a historical parallel. There were times when Mariana blames those people who have nos- villagers were expatriated from Ukraine, the talgia for Soviet occupation as she considers families were separated, and ten million were all kinds of occupation as equal. Therefore she killed. The villages died out in the suffering refuses to mourn for the past, as her choice is of starvation. But cities live… This is now the definitely the future. brutality. Was that not brutality?”33 The ques- The anti-Semitism in the novel is an ambiguous tion whether the Holodomor was an organized topic. The communists, who flee from Kyiv, crime remains unanswered in the text. This are represented as Jews, and even the narrator dialog elucidates the well-conceived strategy makes the generalization that this is “Jewish of manipulation of collective memory when Kyiv.”31 However, Mariana has Jewish friends; the previous regime’s crimes are covered up she tells her friend Rosa about the killings in by concentrating public attention on current Babi Yar and tries to save her life; she helps events and simultaneously by the obliteration to preserve documents written in Hebrew in of any interconnections with the past. a museum. In the novel the announcement Besides the accusatory thoughts, the novel about gathering all Jews which was put up in is mainly built on doubts and reflections on Kyiv on the 29th of September of 1941 is met- events as the main character’s role is the po- aphorically called the “blue announcement” sition of a passive eye-witness for whom even or “blue decree” in order not to pronounce its her life is unbearable. The occupation of Kyiv real content. Those who stay in Kiev are sim- not only demolishes the life in the city, but ply workers, craftsmen, etc. In the narrator’s also destroys the expectation of Ukraine’s pos- words, there is no reason to kill them as all sibility to become an independent state. The ‘bad’ Jews have left Kyiv. The citizens’ attitude notion of “future” is not imaginable anymore towards the mass killing of Jews is shown as in circumstances in which every day could be negative: “No, bloody Hitler`s font is not to the last. Mariana notes: “All of us are blind. the taste of Kiev citizens, there are no voices Plodding towards to the future. Seeing only of delight, which Hitler probably expects.”32 the past.”34 However, the citizens of Kyiv are Nevertheless, these voices appear in the novel shown as blind even toward the past. when some of the citizens accused the Jews of The authors draw attention to the fact that the detonations in Kyiv, which were used as during the Nazi occupation there was a de- an imaginary justification to kill them. ficiency of food in the cities because of the The comparison between Holodomor and prohibition for non-Germans to go to German Holocaust appears in the dialog between Vas- shops or other public places. These circum- anta and Mariana. Vasanta uses the argument stances are completely similar to the famine about the killings of Jews to portray the com- of 1932-1933, when villagers were starving, munists as innocent in comparison to the Na- but citizens received state rations of food. This zis. Mariana, however, gives examples of the analogy in the novel evidences the rupture Holodomor, deportations, and oppression, between the villagers and citizens which is shown to be tense mainly because of the pre- 31 Dokia Humenna, Khreshchaty Yar (New York: Union “Writers” Association, 1946), p.36. 33 Ibid., 212. 32 Ibid., 203. 34 Ibid., 319.

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vious famine: “Villagers are not receptive to ecution by Hunger” books mainly had meta- the city’s needs, as the city was once not re- phorical or symbolical titles which one could ceptive to villagers needs.”35 This proves that understand only after reading the book or be- the lacunas which were not filled by critical ing aware of the specific topic. The second title historical analysis create a hazardous separa- of this book “The hidden Holocaust” sounds tion between ‘we’ and ‘they’. The absence of provocative especially considering the time the trauma process becomes an obstacle to re- when it appeared – 1987. During this period constructing the causality of events and makes it was still difficult and dangerous to speak the collective memory entirely susceptible to out openly about the Ukrainian famine from propaganda. 1932 to 1993, and no one was so courageous as The headline of the novel “Khreshchaty Yar”, to even compare it to or put it on equal foot- which is connected with the historical place in ing with the Holocaust. Significantly, there is the center of Kyiv, has two possible interpre- no such second title in Ukrainian (published tations regarding its` connection with the con- at 1997) or in Russian and Polish translation. tent. First, after the Soviet scorched-earth tactic However this second title appears in the during their withdrawal Kyiv no longer is per- French and Romanian editions. The Ukrainian ceived as a city and reverts to the initial stage - translation of this book was published under Khreshchaty Yar. Second, this caption extends the author’s real name Semen Stariv, which the recognition of the depicted time by draw- caused confusion among the readers. ing attention to the past and history which There is no explanation in the text what kind coexist on every timeline. Thus in her novel of connection Dolot wants to delineate be- Humenna makes an attempt to construct the tween the Holodomor and Holocaust by using multidirectional example of history in which his second title “The Hidden Holocaust” and different traumas, especially those which are how significant it is for him. The only thing in connected to the same community or histori- the text that could explain this is the author’s cal territory, should be juxtaposed. The main reminiscence about his military service during character Marianna is not a moral witness of the Second World War. He draws a compari- the regime. Therefore the surrounding real- son between the atrocities during the war with ity is just a descriptive scene for her and the the atrocities of famine. However even after reader. However, the significant remarks on having been a witness to the war, in his con- comparing the two traumas reveal the desire sciousness the famine is a crueler offence: to remember these crimes and not forget. The suffering of war pales in comparison with the The survivor as a human events of our village, all of which remain in my memory as absolute horror.36 The book “Execution by Hunger” (1985) writ- ten in English by Miron Dolot is completely The caption added in the cover of the English different from the other books about the Ho- addition continues to provoke the reader by lodomor that were published by other emigré using well-known claims like “breadbasket authors. Until the year of publication of “Ex- 36 Miron Dolot, Execution by hunger (New York, London: W.W.Norton and Company, 1985), p. 35 Ibid., 288. 9.

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for Europe” in the context of contrast: Thus he consciously comprehends his survi- vor complex. Seven million people in the breadbasket of Europe The book “Execution by hunger” is written were deliberately starved to death at Stalin’s com- in the first person narrative and according to mand. This story has been suppressed for half a cen- the “author`s notes” Dolot identifies the main tury. Now, a survivor speaks. character of his novel with himself. The pro- tagonist and the narrator – both combined in This small paragraph on the cover of the En- one person – have no name in the text. The glish edition contains important pieces of in- author elucidates not only the events during formation that had been prohibited for a long the Holodomor, but he starts his story in 1929. time: 1) the number of deaths; 2) the specific- This deliberate strategy enables him to draw a ity of the campaign; 3) the perpetrators of the comparison between his village before and the famine; 4) the suppression of the truth; and after the famine. The author supports his sto- 5) the silence of survivors’ voices. Those brief ry by analyzing the historical context of that pieces of text probably were used to attract for- time, using definite numbers: “Our village eign readers’ attention. comprised about 800 households and 4000 in- In the “Author’s note” Dolot emphasizes the habitants.”39 These comments also change the authenticity of the events he described in his meaning of his writing, as it is not just a kind of book: survivor literature, but a kind of investigation. The genre of memoirs reveals itself in a cou- It is the reconstruction of what I saw and ex- ple of the author’s descriptions of his current perienced personally. Everything recorded ac- feelings while writing his book. His story is tually happened; only authenticated facts are personalized by sincere interpolations: “God represented.37 is the witness that as I write these words, the paper is wet with my tears.”40 He is very outspoken about his aim: telling the The author makes reference to anti-Semitic truth without oversimplification, exaggeration Communist party propaganda which accused and literal imagination. He predicts that some the Jews of all brutalities that were commit- will question the content of the book and an- ted against the villagers, in order to clear ‘real swers the expected criticisms in advance: communists’ from guilt for any atrocities. Do- lot shows how communists propagandized Some of my readers will wonder how I could re- anti-Semitism to the villagers at the daily construct so many events, in such detail, after meetings: “The Jews took advantage of their so many years. […] First of all, one does not for- power to take revenge on Ukrainians.”41 The get the trauma and tragedy of one’s life, no mat- author claims that it was totally unpredictable ter how hard one tries. Secondly, one cannot for the villagers. forget the details of one’s struggle to survive.38 The author constructs the narrative us- ing more descriptive scenes than dialogs. This book breaks with the image of “typ- 37 Miron Dolot, Execution by hunger (New York, London: W.W.Norton and Company, 1985), 39 Ibid., 9. p. 15. 40 Ibid., 206. 38 Ibid. 41 Ibid., 83.

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ical stories” about Holodomor, where the ing of the spring of 1933 would bring us aim is often to affect the readers and even some relief.”42 The same idea concerning move them to tears. Instead it proposes ex- hope that brings a human being the strength planations and analyses and expects rec- to overcome the worst circumstances is ognition instead of sympathy. Dolot does enlightened in the prominent book “Man’s not speak about his own feelings during the search for meaning” (1984) by Victor Frankl. process of starving. This strategy allows him While telling his story about being a Holo- to be not just a witness to his own or of his caust witness he explicates the idea of hu- family’s suffering, but also a witness to the man’s exigency to have or create a meaning of mass suffering. one’s urgency to stay alive.43 By writing “we” in the first chapters, Dolot Except for the historical references in this text, means all the inhabitants in his village, but Miron Dolot creates the image of the ‘sur- the extent of his generalization varies in dif- vivor as a human’ and the ‘victim as a hu- ferent parts of novel. In the last chapters “we” man’; they do not have exceptional features is limited to the author`s family which is the and are just ordinary people. Using this way result of the abandonment of all ties between of presenting his memoirs his approach is people while they were starving to death. a contrast to the survivor literature that was However, the author’s family was trying to written before him mainly by depriving his preserve these bonds. The main emphasis in text of metaphorical and symbolical levels. the portrayal of the last months of the famine “Execution by hunger” could be considered (spring 1933) is placed not on how the author’s partly as historical research which presents family was starving, but on the short fami- historical facts and survivors’ testimony as ly stories of the other villagers who died. As well. a survivor he speaks instead of them. While stumbling upon the dead bodies on their Conclusion (his and his brother’s) way, the author stops his main narrative line for a minute of recogni- Literary strategies of narrating traumas face tion: to look in the face of the dead human and the limitations of literary genres suited for to say just a few words about him or her. In the the purpose. The genre of novel which the very beginning of the book there is a descrip- Ukrainian authors primarily choose changes tion of the author’s father’s burial, but during the perception of the depicted events by its the story there is no discussion of their own fictional components. Thus the texts partly house, his mom’s or brother’s appearance, the lose their connection with the historical events author’s appearance and the exact age. These and develop into an imagined, constructed memoirs are also the acquaintances with the reality rather than the original historical one. author’s family because, as he says at the end Forgetting the trauma of the Holodomor is fa- of the book, he left his village the year after the cilitated by a strategy to depict the survivor Holodomor and never saw his relatives again. This book contains the observable line of 42 Miron Dolot, Execution by hunger (New York, London: W.W.Norton and Company, 1985), p. hope which influences the struggle to stay 203. alive: “Those of us who were still alive har- 43 Victor Frankl, Man’s search for meaning: an introduction to logotherapy (New York: Simon & bored a secret and final hope that the- com Schuster, 1984).

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as a heroic personality or a moral pattern for narrate their traumatic experience in oppsite others. Therefore the literary work aims to be ways, each of which enlightens a different didactic for a reader. This choice of depicting approach to the past as a reality constructed the survivors erases the reasons and circum- through the historical perspective and literary stances which put him in this condition, while imagination. These types of survivors could emphasizing his personality which becomes a be used for other Ukrainian novels written in justification of why only he is able to survive. the after-war period. The extension of this ty- These two kinds of images of survivors are pology will draw a comparison between fea- represented in the novels by Olga Mak and tures of Ukrainian survivor literature and the Oleksa Hay-Holovko. first post-war texts about the Holocaust. The type of ‘survivor as a silent bystander’ depicts the events without showing a per- sonal connection to them. This creates an am- biguous and elusive feeling, raises questions without explicit answers, and leaves an effect About the author of incompleteness. This approach, however, Natalia Dovhanych is a Ph.D. Candidate at the allowed Dokia Humenna to juxtapose the Ho- Department of Theory of Literature and Com- lodomor and Holocaust in 1943. She showed parative Studies of Ivan Franko Lviv National the existence of opposite perceptions of mass University. The topic of her thesis is “Dichot- killings in Kyiv and Babi Yar. omy of Memory and History in Ukrainian The book by Miron Dolot, which is deprived Emigration Prose of the Second Half of the of the protagonist’s emotions on his struggle 20th Century”. In 2015, she received a Master to survive, creates an image of the ‘survivor degree in Ukrainian Language and Literature as a human’. His text does not aim to shock from the Ivan Franko Lviv National Univer- the reader, but at thrilling, charming or excit- sity. In 2017, she was Erasmus+ fellow at the ing sympathy. The book which does not poet- Humboldt University of Berlin. Natalia has ize and beautify the position of the survivor published several articles. Among them, “The constructs the strategy of ‘remembering to re- Genre Specificity of Emigration Novel: “Great member’. The lack of images of the “survivor Literature”, “Cultural Trauma” (Visnyk of the as a human” facilitates the reader`s estrange- Chernivtsi University. Series: Slavic Philology, ment from the perception of the Holodomor 2015), “Narrative Structure and Artistic Psy- as true suffering and a crime. Therefore, this chologism of the Novel “Basis of Society” by text fills the lacuna in the presentation of the Ivan Franko” (Visnyk of the Lviv University. uncommon type of survivor in the Ukrainian Series: Philology, 2015), “All of Us Are Blind. literature. Plodding Gropingly towards the Future. See- Consequently, these authors are constrained ing only the Past”: Dynamics of Memory in by their disability to express and transmit the novels of Dokia Humenna”(Scientific Jour- traumatic experience properly. The writers nal of Uzhhorod University, 2016).

Euxeinos, Vol. 9, No. 27 / 2019 155 The Online Open Access Journal Euxeinos. Culture and Governance in the Black Sea Region is published by the Center for Governance and Culture in Europe (GCE-HSG), University of St.Gallen, Switzerland with the financial support of Landys & Gyr Stiftung.

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Cover image: Sculpture of hungry young girl with ears of wheat in their hands at the National Museum of the Holodomor Victims Memorial (Kyiv, Ukraine); Monument to children killed at Babyn Yar (Kyiv, Ukraine); Monument of the deportation of the Crimean Tatars (Sudak, Ukraine).

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